Shadow's Gathering
by BlackSandHeart
Summary: When Sonic ends up in another world and finds it a strange mix of Cowboys and Knights in shining armor, he doesn't know what to say or do but finds himself on a quest with old friends, enemies, assassins, and evil Kings? Idea somewhat similar to Sonic and the Black Knight, pairings involved. OC's from my stories and others are in here! Please R&R!
1. Chapter 1

**You may want to read like the first few Chapters of Day of the Dead and Dimension Jumpers or else you're **_**never**_** going to get this at all. But… if you don't want to that's okay. It's a whole new world anyways- woops just ruined it *dark grin*.**

**Me "Sierra, get away from the computer."**

**Sierra "Aw what? Come on! Where's your sense of fun?"**

**Me *rolls eyes* "Anyways here's the first chapter! And please do review. Also, quick note, if you came over from Day of the Dead this story takes place after the events in the story."**

**Disclaimer for this Chapter: I own nothing that belongs to SEGA. All that I own would be Sierra and the Dimension Jumpers.**

Sonic the hedgehog whistled his favorite tune to Crush 40 as he walked down the street with a chilidog in hand. There weren't many Mobians walking down this area of town because it was abandoned and most of the criminals hung out around here, like Scourge and the well known evil scientist Dr. Eggman. However, no one bothered with him today and he frowned when he noticed a nearby antic bookstore open.

"What the…?" Sonic frowned. "I thought nothing was working here anymore."

The blue hedgehog walked towards the glass door, eating the chilidog as he did so and licked his fingers as he opened the door. The door ringed as it opened, indicating to the owner that someone was there. He stuck his head in and was greeted by the musty smell of books. "Hello?" He called, his emerald eyes having a hard time adjusting to the dark light.

When no one answered, he walked into the store and closed the door behind him. Lightning flashed outside and Sonic looked outside with a frown. It looked like he couldn't stay for long. He didn't want to be caught up in a storm. All around him there was a mess of bookshelves stacked with books, a globe with dust collecting on it, and curtains that surrounded almost everything. A nearby table covered with porcelain dolls in lacey dresses sat by the wall. Sonic frowned at the dolls, he had never liked dolls but he pushed the thought away and turned towards the wooden countertop with an ancient cash register on it, also collecting dust with the rest of the countertop.

"Hello my dear…" a screechy, old voice crowed.

Sonic looked over with a jolt and saw an old black cat with a creepy old grin that made her face stretch in impossible ways. She wore a black cloak that covered most of her body and her face. The cat's blue eyes glowed in the darkness of her hood and of the store and she chuckled at the nervous look on Sonic's face.

Sonic didn't know why he felt so edgy around the old cat. He pushed the thought away and forced a grin. "Hiya."

"Oh… you must be Sonic the hedgehog." The old cat said as it slowly, very slowly, moved towards the back of the counter.

Sonic nodded. "That's me."

"I… I've heard a lot about you. Such a strong young hedgehog…" The woman muttered as she pulled a lever on the cash register and it opened with a _ding!_

Sonic frowned and watched the woman's hand reach into the depths of the register. He was ready to book it out of the store if trouble showed its face. As the woman pulled her hand out of the register, Sonic felt a familiar feeling of energy and blinked in surprise as the woman pulled out the white Chaos Emerald.

"Where did you get that?" Sonic asked, all his nervousness about the cat gone as he walked up to the counter. The old cat investigated the emerald with big blue eyes.

"I found it in the park not too long ago. I opened my store here and thanks to this emerald no harm has fallen to me. But I am old and I am about to leave this world soon. I was hoping you or one of your friends would come so I could return it to you." The cat said wearily.

"Thanks," Sonic gave her his trademark grin and thumbs up. "We could really use this emerald if Dr. Eggman came back around."

"Good…" The cat sighed a long, heavy sigh then started laughing darkly.

Sonic blinked in surprise, his nervousness kicking back in as the cat tightened its grip on the emerald. It pulled back its hood and before Sonic's very eyes he could see the cat slowly growing younger and its blue eyes become ice cold. She smirked as she looked at Sonic and the hedgehog gasped with recognition and lifted his fists. "Sierra!"

Sierra the Vile moved her way around the counter top, very smoothly and a lot faster then she had when she looked older. She hopped onto the countertop, crossed her legs revealing black clothes underneath and boots, and sneered at Sonic. "Sonic the hedgehog, how nice it is to see you again."

"I thought you were gone! And what are you doing in this dimension anyways?" Sonic demanded. He knew this girl well for she was the one that came from another dimension, worked with Eggman for a short time then went against him, and managed to kill innocent lives in the process. She was an arch enemy to Sonic's newest friends known as the Dimension Jumpers.

"That's easy, to get rid of their hero while I'm out destroying the world." Sierra sneered. Sonic turned to run but a dark mass blocked the door and windows. Sonic turned back to Sierra angrily as she wagged a finger. "Uh, uh, no running this time, hedgehog."

"What do you want with me?" Sonic growled.

Sierra lifted the emerald and leaned close to his face. "To get rid of the hero. Must I repeat myself? Although, I always thought you were cute when you were mad."

Sonic's eyes widened as she lifted the emerald into the air. "Chaos Control!" Sierra called and a bright light surrounded the blue hedgehog.

Sonic let out a cry as the ground disappeared underneath his feet and he fell into darkness. But the last thing he remembered seeing was the icy blue eyes of Sierra and her dark laughter surrounding him. Then… all was black.

**So… what do you think? I'm not posting the next chapter until someone reviews so if you want to know what happens next to the blue hero, post a review! Even a one word reply would be enough.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow, okay did not expect to get so many reviews. Thanks to Raeweis, Guest **_(yes! You two followed me over from Day of the Dead! It's good to have you reviewing and reading this tale too!)_**, Strife the Dark 152 **_(Flame gives you a round of applause for reading this)_**, and the other guest reviewer named: sonic** _(here is your next_ chapter!)**. Also... this chapter's a little long but it has important info in it!**

**Disclaimer for this Chapter= I own nothing that belongs to SEGA. All that I own would be: Xsus, Xerius, Chase, Ria, Jason, Zap, Sierra, Savanna, the blue bird, other random characters not in SEGA games, the plot, and basically this entire land/the setting and sights in it.**

**Chapter Two:**

"Do you think he's dead?" A voice asked nervously.

"Maybe if we poke him with a stick…" A second voice said, snickering.

"Chase!" A third voice gasped in disbelief.

"Weird, he's only wearing shoes, and those are the weirdest shoes I have ever seen." A fourth voice said. "What do you think, Xerius?"

There was a moment of silence and the fourth voice laughed. "Okay, that's true. He could be from the other side but he doesn't look like trouble."

Sonic the hedgehog groaned as he slowly opened his eyes with a frown. He blinked slowly when he found it was all blurry and when his eyesight finally straightened out, he found five faces staring down at him and a blue sky behind them. Sonic blinked when he finally recognized their faces.

"Hey! What are you guys doing here? I thought you were in the other dimension doing a special mission for Zap!"

The five faces gave him a look. The smallest one, a blond looking cat but had flat ears the size of maple leaves, leaned towards the spotted one. "He's crazy!" He whispered, being the owner of the first voice. His ocean blue eyes glancing at Sonic for a moment before looking into the distance Sonic couldn't see.

Sonic frowned and then looked around, seeing he was in the middle of the forest. He frowned and then recalled his experience going to Camelot a few months back. He wondered if he was suffering through the same thing and secretly cursed Sierra. He turned to the others. "Um… where am I?"

"The land of Darrius, more specifically the Forest of Shame." The owner of the fourth voice said. The voice belonged to a dark grey colored cat thing with long ears that branched off in the end making an antler shape. The boy crossed his arms and Sonic recognized him back in his home world as Jason. The boy pointed to himself. "I'm Jason, and this is Ria, Xerius, Xsus, and Chase." He pointed to the others in turn.

Sonic frowned. The land of Darrius? The Forest of Shame? Okay, that one he had never heard of but the names belonged to the correct people. That was weird. He frowned at them. "The land of Darrius huh? How did I get here?"

"Beats me," Chase shrugged. He had long ears like Jason did but flopped down like a dog's on the very end. The tips of his hands, tail, and ears were black while the rest of his body was a light grey color. He looked up at the blue sky. Back in Sonic's home he was known for being a trouble maker. "We were just huntin' and you fell out of the sky."

The maple leaf eared one lifted up a fish he had been holding, and Sonic glanced over at Xsus, back in his home, he was known for acting childish at some points but being very brave at other moments. "But you helped me catch this fish!" Xsus grinned. "You scared it right out of the water!"

Sonic smiled at him and looked around. "So… can you guys explain what's going on here?"

"Crazy!" Xsus hissed to the others and got wacked on the side of the head by the one named Ria. She was a pink colored, had catlike features but had dog ears that flattened over like Chase's did at the tips of his ears. "Ow!" Xsus whined, glancing at her as she wagged a finger at him angrily.

She flashed a smile at Sonic, which lit up her blue eyes. "I have a question for you, did you hit your head when you fell?"

Sonic sighed. Yep, he was on a different world again. He lifted his hands to the five of them and coughed. "Okay, I'm going to tell you guys something and you may have a hard time believing me but it's the truth."

Five pairs of eyes stared at him, not blinking.

Sonic took a deep breath. "Okay, so I don't think I'm from here. I'm from a planet called Mobius and I was walking through a dark part of town when…"

"Why would you do that?" Xsus wondered and got smacked on the side of the head by Xerius this time. Xerius' dark brown eyes scowled at Xsus instead of his face. He was known in Sonic's world for not being much of a talker but a brilliant fighter. His light brown fur and normal cat ears were his main features, besides the dark brown spots that covered his body. "Ow!" Xsus groaned. "Will you people stop smacking me on the side of the head?"

"Listen to the story," Ria scolded. "Ask questions later."

Sonic frowned, cleared his throat, and then continued. "Anyways, there was a store opened and I walked into it…"

Xsus opened his mouth to talk again but got swatted by Chase, who then got glared down by Ria. Sonic continued, rolling his eyes as he did so, being used to this happening all the time back home. "There was an old lady in there and the old lady turned out to be one of my enemies named Sierra and I guess she transported me here."

There was a long moment of silence until Chase leaned towards Jason. "Crazy." He whispered.

An even longer moment of silence passed after that.

Xerius shrugged. _"I believe him."_ He said in his telepathic voice Sonic recognized him rarely speaking in. _"It would explain why he doesn't know anything, fell from the sky and lived, and why he doesn't know where he is or what's going on. It also explains why he seemed to know us at first too."_

The others stared at him. "Xerius! You talk!" Xsus squealed with glee and hugged him tightly while Xerius rolled his eyes.

Sonic coughed. "Anyways, yeah, I recognize you guys and you have the same names too. Back home you guys can fly and…"

"FLY? I CAN FLY?" Xsus screamed with glee.

Ria face palmed. "Great you said the three letter word."

"What? Fly?" Sonic frowned.

Xsus ran around the forest clearing his arms outstretched like an airplane and he made whooshing noises as he ran past the others. Everyone watched him run around and Chase face palmed next.

"Um… no one ever says the f-l-y word when he's around." Jason whispered to Sonic. "It makes him go a little crazy."

Xsus froze. "F-l-y? What does that spell?"

It was now Jason's turn to face palm. He groaned as he glanced at Sonic with a cautious look on his face. "I can't see any reason on why leaving you out here is a good idea and if those Monarch folk get you…"

"Monarch folk? What the heck are you talking about?" Sonic said with a frown.

Ria gave him an _I'll-explain-later_ look. She turned to her brother, Jason. "So, what's your plan?"

Jason looked thoughtful. "It looks like we'll have to bring him back to town"

"Works for me!" Sonic shrugged.

Jason and the others turned around and gathered their belongings. It was around then when Sonic noticed how weird their clothes were. They all wore something from those Western movies Zap and Knuckles back home would make him watch. They wore the strange leather pants, button down shirts, and vests along with leather boots with spikes on the end. They held small pockets with pistols in them and pulled a large gun around their backs, except Xsus, who pulled a fishing poll around his back. They wore bandannas around their necks and the only thing that seemed to be missing was the classic cowboy hats.

Sonic frowned. "You guys wouldn't be… cowboys… would you?"

Ria laughed. "Just cowboys?"

Sonic didn't know what to say as Xsus ran up to him and grabbed his gloved hand with his own. "So what's your name, sir? I don't think we asked you yet."

Sonic nodded and then noticed the others were staring at him, except Xerius who was shouldering a large, black rifle. "The name's Sonic. Sonic the hedgehog."

"He's going to have a hoot with Knuckles." Chase whispered to Jason and both of them started snickering until they saw Ria glaring at them.

Ria shook her head and smiled at Sonic again. "Alright, let me lead the way. Follow me!"

-XXXXXXXX-

"Wow…!" Sonic gasped, looking at the small prairie town before him. He was now _positive_ this was something from a Western movie.

The entire town was dusty and no trees were nearby offering any shade. Mobians in cowboy clothes moved here and there, some arguing with each other, others staring at girls in dresses as they walked by with dumb grins on their faces. Some rode horses, others rode in horse drawn wagons, and some just walked. The houses were old fashioned and small, most being one story and the ones with two stories had balconies where people leaned on them lazily. Sonic watched in awe at the town move around before him and the others.

Xsus took a step forward and put a hand on his hips. He nodded at the town and spread his other hand out towards the town. "Welcome to Ocean Rider!"

"Ocean Rider, eh?" Sonic said, looking around the town. Suddenly, the swinging doors to a bar named: _Chaotix_ opened up and Sonic blinked in surprise as he saw none other than Vector the crocodile throw out a blue bird, who was giggling hysterically.

"And stay out!" Vector yelled after him. He crossed his arms and scowled as the bird stumbled to his feet and walked in a diagonal line, accidently walking into a female, white cat who smacked him across the face with her lacy glove.

Vector smirked. "Stupid kids…" His eyes glanced over to the crew at the entrance of the town and he blinked in surprise. "Hey! Jason!"

Jason grabbed Sonic's arm and dragged him over to Vector while Xerius and Xsus stayed behind and Chase and Ria followed him. Vector frowned down at Sonic. "Who's this?"

Sonic frowned, remembering he wasn't in his home town, or world. "I'm Sonic." He said to Vector, showing his trademark grin.

"Sonic huh? That rings a bell… ah oh well! The name's Vector! Vector the crocodile!" Vector shook Sonic's hand and grinned at him. "It's a pleasure to meet you Sonic, stop by anytime and have a drink why don't you?"

Sonic flashed him a grin as Jason accepted a hat from a catlike girl with long eyelashes and dark black hair and white fur that strangely matched together. Jason put on the cowboy hat and it confirmed Sonic's suspicions about where he thought he was. _Maybe I time traveled…_ he thought.

"Thank you, darlin'." Jason said to the girl.

The girl blushed and walked away.

"Who's that?" Sonic asked Ria.

Ria smirked. "One of the prettiest girls in town. She's known as Angel, poor thing, her parents were killed by those Monarchs, so we let her into our town. She doesn't like a lot of people but she does have a thing for Jason."

"You still haven't explained to me about these Monarch people…" Sonic said with a frown.

Ria rubbed the back of her head. "I'll explain everything in a moment. Just… hold on for a moment, Sonic." Her eyes lit up when she saw someone behind him and Sonic glanced back to see two girls carrying umbrellas and wearing fancy dresses walking forward.

Sonic paled when he recognized one of the girls he grabbed her wrist and stopped her from advancing, resulting a growl to erupt from Chase's throat. "What are you doing?" He growled as Ria glared back at him.

"But…! That's Sierra!" Sonic pointed to the black fured cat as she stopped with her friend a few feet away from them.

"Sonic!" Ria sighed. "You must've hit your head seriously hard or something. Sierra is not a bad person! She's my best friend!"

Sonic blinked, wishing he had a tape recorder to play that to Katherine. Chase's growl became deeper and Sonic let go of Ria as she marched away from him and up to Sierra and the other girl, the one Sonic recognized as Savanna.

Back in his home world, Savanna was a kind soul who would never disobey orders, no matter how crazy it was. She was known for being patient but that didn't change a thing about how she acted in this world. Her brown and golden fur glowed in the sun and her green eyes shined with friendly light. Sierra and Savanna giggled like little girls as Ria glanced back at Sonic, and he scowled, knowing they were talking about him. He turned around to listen to Vector, Jason, and Chase's conversation.

"The Sheriff?" Vector was saying. "Oh he's been back since this morning. They had another fight with those blasted Monarchs outside of the Forest of Shame earlier today."

"That's where we were…" Jason muttered. "Okay, thanks Vector, I'll stop by again soon!"

"You better," Vector wagged a finger at him. "Every two glasses and you get half off!"

"I'll be there!" A passerby grinned, listening into their conversation as he walked by. Vector glared at him until he was out of earshot.

Jason rolled his eyes. "You know I don't drink, Vector."

Vector shrugged. "Just saying!"

"Alright, we need to go see the Sheriff, see you later, Vector!" Jason grabbed Sonic's arm again and pulled him down the street, straightening his cowboy hat as he walked along. Chase shrugged and followed, walking directly behind Sonic, like daring him to move out of line.

As they walked along, Sonic noticed other cowboys and such looking down at him with distaste until they stopped in front of a wooden house. There was a wooden rocking chair in the corner of the porch but it was vacant. Jason walked up to the door and banged on it angrily. "Open up, Sheriff!" He called.

There was a moment of silence until the door opened on its own. Sitting behind a desk playing with ancient looking cards and his hat pulled low over his face sat the Sheriff. Jason pulled Sonic in and the three of them stood before the Sheriff. "Sheriff, we found this guy in the woods and we were hoping you could talk to him."

Sonic noticed the purple colored leather jacket with a golden star saying "sheriff" on it and the familiar white gloves with black, metal rings near the end of them. He wore blue jeans and big, black boots and when he looked up at the travelers with golden eyes along with the usual annoyed look on his face, Sonic couldn't help but grin. "Espio?"

Espio the Chameleon glanced over at the hedgehog with a frown as Jason and Chase stared at Sonic in shock. Espio sighed and lowered his boots off the table and sat up, scowling at the blue hedgehog. "Who's this and how does he know my name?" Espio asked slowly.

Jason lifted his hands nervously. "Don't look at us, Sheriff, we didn't tell him your name."

Chase nodded. "Not a word!"

"Out." Espio pointed at the door and Chase and Jason, with a glance at each other, walked out the door.

"In." Espio called as soon as their footsteps had faded and he let out a sigh before looking back at the cards on his desk. From the back part of the small house, which was another room, and Sonic noticed two vacant cells inside the room, came a familiar face.

"Xerius?" Sonic gasped.

"Xerius is my partner." Espio explained. "We've been on some missions together and Xerius has already told me some things about you."

"So you _do_ know my name."

"Yes, Sonic the hedgehog was it? Anyways, have a seat." Espio pointed to a wooden chair next to the desk and Sonic sat down, investigating the items on Espio's desk. There wasn't much on the desk. Just a bunch of papers that came from who knows where and also there was a pen on the table, all pushed to the right side of his desk, close to the window that overviewed part of the town. Cards sat in the middle of the table with strange designs and shapes on them. A collection of gold coins, about fifteen, sat near the corner of the desk, closer to Sonic then to Espio.

The chameleon noticed Sonic looking at the coins and motioned Xerius to stand next to him, which he did. "So I guess you're wondering what's going on here. From what Xerius told me, you come from another world with people similar to us."

"That's right," Sonic nodded, turning his attention to the chameleon.

Espio nodded. "Let me explain everything here first. In this world, the land of Darrius, we are a divided nation. Split into thirds and never stop fighting each other." Espio glanced back at a map Sonic hadn't noticed behind his desk. It showed a large, one shaped continent, looking similar to the human country called Australia; except, it was split into three parts with a thin dotted line. In the middle of the lines there was a forest and after a quick squint and the fading words, Sonic read: _The Forest of Shame_.

Espio pointed to the western side with a long stick he had pulled out from under his desk. "This is where we are. This is our land, the land of the cowboys you could say. We're a spread out community of many but we find our strength in fighting for our home, for what we believe in. Ocean Rider, our town, is closest to the edge of the border so we fight the most battles against the Monarchs." With that, he pointed to the right side of the map with a satisfied nod when it made a _whack_.

Xerius smirked, like he did many times in Sonic's world.

"Here, the Monarchs are our enemies. They live the ways of the past, blasted Monarchs." Espio sneered at the right side of the map.

Sonic frowned. "Wait, wait, they live the ways of the past, huh? Monarchs… wait, so these people are like knights and stuff, right? Ruled by Kings and Queens, right?"

Espio looked impressed. "Correct, but they are ruled by _a_ King and Queen. Xerius?"

The silent warrior nodded as Espio looked at the card game and scowled before sitting down and rearranging the strangely shaped cards. Xerius glanced at Sonic, his face emotionless but his brown eyes seemed to be sizing Sonic up until he spoke. _"Five hundred years ago, a group of people underneath this Monarchy rule were finished. They didn't want to be ruled over anymore so they rebelled, but to no prevail since the King and Queen sent out their armies to crush them. Our engineers had to work fast to find a weapon and gave us the modern…"_ As fast as Sonic could run, Xerius reached into his pocket and slammed his pistol on the table, making Sonic jump while Espio did nothing, like this happened all the time. _"…gun."_ Xerius finished.

Xerius glanced at Espio and then moved one of the cards on the table to another pile. Espio nodded like the moved pleased him and Xerius continued. _"They managed to stop the army and talked the King and Queen into letting them have their own land, which is now known as the Western territory which you are in now. However, the King and Queen want their land back therefore they continue to attack us daily, making any innocent traveler a victim of war now."_

"What does the King and Queen attack you guys with?" Sonic questioned, suddenly remembering his adventures in Camelot again.

_"Their knights, they use swords that can stop a bullet and they have the speed of the wind. They also have a brilliant blacksmith on their side and a brilliant military leader." _Xerius hissed.

"Well, what do you cowboys have?"

"Guns, knives, our fists, and canons," Espio said slowly. "Along with a few brilliant sheriffs such as myself… and Xerius too… who know what to do at the right moment."

Xerius rolled his eyes. _"Got any other questions?"_ He asked Sonic.

"Hold on, who's the people that own the third section of the land?" Sonic asked.

Xerius looked annoyed now. _"Indians. Blasted people. They sit back and laugh at us. We settled our differences long ago. The place also belongs to the cowards that give up fighting along with a few assassins, dragons, demons… all that."_

"The Indians are brilliant people though," Espio said slowly as he moved another card around on the desk. "Without them, we would probably still be under her highness' rule today."

Xerius rolled his eyes again. _"Only because princess…"_

"Xerius?"

Xerius scowled and turned to Sonic. _"Any other questions?"_

"Yep… what should I do now?"

Espio glanced at Sonic and then at Xerius. "Go find him some clothes."

Xerius shrugged and picked up the fifteen gold pieces then walked out the door. Espio turned his attention back to his game. "While Xerius goes and finds you something more suitable to wear, you can stay with us. You have an idea to get back to your world?"

"Chaos Control," Sonic shrugged. "But I don't have a Chaos Emerald. Do you happen to have someone named Shadow around here?"

"Shadow?" Espio frowned.

"Yeah, Shadow the hedgehog! You know where he is?"

"Nope. Never heard of him."

Sonic groaned and slouched in his seat. This was going to take a very, very long time to figure things out. He didn't want to get involved with this war for once. He wanted to go home fast, the faster the better. Who knew what evil things Sierra was planning on doing with the others? He wished he had a Chaos Emerald so he could hunt down this world's Shadow faster… if he even existed in this world. How was he going to get back?

Suddenly the door opened and Sonic glanced over in surprise to see Sierra. "Sheriff! There's another fight!" She called.

Espio nodded and stood. "Alright, I'm coming." He glanced at Sonic. "Stay here."

The wooden door closed, leaving Sonic and Sierra together. Sonic glanced at Sierra suspiciously, prepared to jump out Espio's window at any given moment. "Sierra…?"

Sierra glanced at him in surprise, her icy blue eyes resting on Sonic, but they didn't look cold and angry. They looked innocent and pure for once. "You… you know my name?" She asked nervously. "I haven't even told you mine."

Sonic found himself smiling at her and before he could stop himself he spoke. "I'm Sonic, Sonic the hedgehog."

"Sonic the hedgehog, huh?" Sierra giggled. "Well that's a cute name. Why do they call you that?"

Sonic by now noticed that Sierra's voice didn't have the usual tone of mocking in it, which also threw him off. "Um… my friends… they… ah…"

"Come on," Sierra smiled at him, a real smile, and that threw Sonic off even harder. "I'm sure there's a reason."

Sonic shook his head, forcing himself to think straight. "They call me that because where I'm from I'm the fastest thing alive!" He said to her, and then showed her a trademark grin.

Sierra's smile disappeared, replaced by a familiar cocky one that sent shivers up his spine but the tone of her voice was still the same, confusing Sonic. "Maybe you should race Chase, he's the fastest thing alive in _this_ side of the world."

When Sonic said nothing, Sierra turned to the door and opened it. She sent another kind smile Sonic's way and Sonic blinked as she winked at him. "Maybe you can stop by and visit my place, Sonic the hedgehog. I'd love to have you over for a visit!"

Sonic gaped as she walked out the door and sat there for a long moment of silence, rethinking what this world's Sierra had just said.

**Okay! Thanks for reading the chapter, please review, favorite, or follow! (Warning: story posting might be a bit irregular thanks to school starting for me soon so… yeah either way please review!)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello readers! Welcome to Chapter Three of the story and thanks to raeweis, Guest, Strife the Dark 152, and UnknownFollower for reviewing! You guys are amazing enough to get a hug from Xsus… if you want one.**

**Xsus *grins***

**Anyways, here's the next chapter, oh and Disclaimer: I don't own anything that belongs to SEGA, just the classic, well known Dimension Jumpers, ideas for this story, and the world of Darrius.**

**Chapter Three:**

Xerius walked into the door and found Sonic staring at the map with a confused look on his face. He glanced out the door and saw Sierra talking to Ria and Savanna excitedly, the three kept glancing back at the Sheriff's house. Annoyed, Xerius slammed the door and walked in, scaring Sonic out of his trance of the map.

"Oh! Xerius, hi… didn't see you there." Sonic said as Xerius dropped a pile of clothes into his arms. He pointed to the back part of the Sheriff's house and Sonic nodded before slipping back there to change.

Xerius glanced out the window with a scowl. _"What did Sierra want?"_ He asked after a long moment of silence.

Sonic, still in the back part of the home struggled to think of something to say. "Well… she just came in here and talked to me, but I was being cautious because back in my world, dimension, or whatever, she's evil. Evil to the core and kills hundreds of people."

Xerius frowned at the Sierra outside. He could never imagine her killing a fly. He looked down at Espio's card game with the frown still on his face. _"What else did she say?"_

"That… I… should come over sometime." Sonic swallowed.

Xerius said nothing, as usual.

Sonic finally came around the corner, putting a Western cowboy hat over his head. He still had his red and white sneakers on (which caused Xerius to roll his eyes) but he wore leather pants and vest that did _not_ match with the sneakers. Sonic glanced at Xerius, showing a cocky grin. "Well? How do I look?"

Xerius pointed to the sneakers and Sonic scowled. "I am _not_ taking these off."

Xerius sighed as Espio walked in the door, straightening the hat on his head. He glanced at Sonic, then to Xerius, then back to Sonic, and then seemed to notice the clothes. "Good pick, Xerius… but what's with the…?"

"I am _not_ taking the sneakers off." Sonic said stubbornly.

Espio shrugged and turned to Xerius. "Another fight broke out at Vector's place…"

"Speaking of which, why don't you work there? You, Vector, and Charmy used to always work together." Sonic interrupted.

Espio glanced at him. "Work with Vector and Charmy at the bar? Why would I ever do something stupid like that?"

Sonic blinked, unsure what to say and Espio continued. "So, another fight broke out. The people are getting restless with this war."

Xerius frowned and raised an eyebrow at Espio.

"It was Knuckles and Chase again. Those two are being a pain in the…" He stopped when he noticed Sonic and grimaced. "Oh, sorry, Sonic."

Sonic shrugged, used to people swearing. "Anyways, so Knuckles and Chase, huh? Where is the knucklehead?"

"Who cares? He ran off when I showed up. The two are probably fighting over Ria's attention again. Ever since she's taken up the responsibilities of being a man… every man in Ocean Rider seems to be flirting with her." Espio grumbled.

"The responsibilities of being a man?" Sonic echoed. "What the heck is that supposed to mean?"

"After Jason and Ria's parents died, Ria decided that she would have to start acting and working like a man in this town if she wanted to survive. Being a lady wearing fancy dresses and looking cute wasn't an option anymore. She now hunts, feeds herself, and works to survive with her brother." Espio explained darkly.

Sonic sighed. "Okay, that's just sad, what kind of world is this?"

"Not a pretty one." Espio grumbled.

Sonic stood up. "I have to go. My home world isn't going to end pretty either if I don't get back there soon. I'd love to help but I can't right now."

"Where do you think you're going?" Espio glanced at him. "You have no lead and nowhere to go. You don't even have a weapon to protect yourself from the Monarchs."

Sonic opened the door and glanced back. "Well, I might as well start running, things usually pop up while I run."

Xerius and Espio glanced at each other as Sonic hopped off the only step leading to the office. He glanced around at the town as Mobians moved here and there. Sierra, Savanna, and Ria weren't in front of the Sheriff's office anymore and Sonic noticed a familiar red Echidna standing on top of a roof, close to a chimney with his hat pulled low over his face. Sonic walked down the road and waved to the Echidna. "What's up, Knuckles?"

Knuckles the Echidna lifted his hat and frowned at the new kid walking down the road. He rolled his eyes and leaned back against the chimney. "I'll beat him up later…" Knuckles muttered to himself as Sonic walked away.

Espio and Xerius walked out of the Sheriff's office and started following Sonic, after Xerius quickly locked the door.

Sonic stopped when he saw a familiar face watering flowers. "Hey, Cosmo!"

The girl glanced back and put a hand over her mouth in surprise. She was holding a watering pan and was watering some flowers outside of her house. She glanced at the white flowers behind her and stood protectively before them. "You can't take my flowers!" She said to him as he walked towards her.

"No, no, I don't want to take your flowers. I just wanted to say hi." Sonic said. He stopped in front of her and grinned.

Cosmo frowned. "No one says hi to me anymore."

"Well, why not?"

"This war has been very difficult for all of us." Cosmo said as she lifted her watering can and started watering the flowers again. "Ways of the past like saying hello seems to be forgotten during such a hard war."

Sonic frowned. The hero part of him wanted to go help this world but the sudden image of Sierra smirking at him brought him back to reality. He had to help out his friends in the other world first. If he didn't they would die. Maybe if he had time he could come back and help this world out later.

Espio and Xerius managed to catch up to him. Espio dipped his head towards Cosmo who dipped her head back then Espio turned to Sonic. He handed him a small pistol and nodded. "There you go, if you're going off you're going to need this. Keep in mind that Ocean Rider will always be open to you… if you ever come back."

Sonic grinned at Espio. "Thanks! I guess I'll see you guys later."

Xerius raised an eyebrow and nodded while Espio nodded too.

Cosmo frowned at Sonic. "You are leaving?"

"Yeah, but I'll be back soon!" Sonic grinned.

Cosmo's frown grew. She plucked a white flower off her bushes and smiled as she handed it to Sonic. "Take this with you and let it forever remind you of this place! Thank you for saying hello to me, sir."

"Just call me Sonic." Sonic laughed, taking the flower and placing it in his pocket.

-XXXXXXX-

Meanwhile, on a neighboring rooftop hidden in the shadows, a figure slowly peaked over the town and watched the blue hedgehog suspiciously. It was a knight in shining white armor with their helmet on, making their face unknown. They glanced towards another rooftop where a knight in black armor nodded back at the first figure.

They pushed themselves to the edge of the rooftops, looked at each other, and then jumped down, landing in the middle of the square and scaring everyone.

"Oh no!" Espio turned to the knights and pulled out his gun. He shot at the knights but they rolled out of the way, resulting in Espio swearing underneath his breath. "Drat! I missed, Xerius!"

"Get inside!" Sonic said to Cosmo.

Cosmo nodded and ran inside, slamming the door in the process. Sonic jumped forward and ran towards the knights as Xerius ran out of ammo in his gun. Xerius growled and then flicked his wrists, resulting in long knives shooting out of his knuckles before lunging at the knights with Sonic.

Espio turned to the crowd of panicked townspeople to see more knights jumping down. He gasped at the sight and growled angrily. A sneak attack! And they thought they could take this town down easily!

Espio disappeared and then swatted an enemy on the neck before moving farther down the road, invisibly knocking out his enemy knights as he did so and without anyone knowing.

Meanwhile, Sonic and Xerius fought the two knights furiously. Sonic never recalled any of _his_ knights in Camelot being this fast. They were almost moving as fast as he was and the two seemed to fly at the speed they fought at as Xerius and the other were in a full on fist fight since he managed to knock down the knight's sword.

"Give up!" A familiar voice called from underneath the white knight's helmet, making Sonic freeze and stare at the knight in shock. She missed him by a hair and Sonic gaped at her as she turned to face him, surprised he was able to stop moving so fast.

"Windy…?"

The knight made a gasping sound and Sonic noticed Sierra running towards him. She lifted up the folds of her dress as she ran along and was calling his name.

"Sierra!" Sonic called to her.

"Sonic! Be careful!" Sierra called.

"Get inside, it's dangerous out here!" Sonic called as the white knight made a strange, small, ball like item appear out of thin air. Sonic turned to face his enemy but was smacked in the face by the ball. Sierra screamed his name as green gas surrounded Sonic, knocking him out cold.

However, before he lost full conscious, he saw the figure in white armor named Windy lean over him. "I'm going to have to take you back with me so it seems…"

**There you go! Another chapter done hope you enjoyed it and please do review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi reader!**

**Okay, so thank you for all the reviews, really, you're keeping me going on every chapter. Thanks to Guest, raeweis, and Strife the Dark 152 for reviewing! Thank you **_**so**_** much!**

**Disclaimer for the chapter= I only own Sierra… and the other people in here that you have never heard or seen in the Sonic games, movies, comics, etc. (I did that so I didn't ruin the characters of mine that pop up throughout the story.)**

**Chapter Four=**

"Sonic…? Sonic? Oh please wake up!" A familiar voice begged.

Sonic slowly opened his eyes and found himself staring into icy blue eyes. He let out a yelp and the owner of the blue eyes scrambled off the ancient looking bed he was on. Sonic stood up straight and glanced around in confusion. "What… where? Where am I?"

Sonic looked over and saw Sierra sitting at a wooden chair, her hands in her lap. She was wearing different clothes now. A flat purple dress with one of those princess crown things that Sonic saw in the knights and dragon movie Shadow and Katherine would make him watch. She looked at him and Sonic couldn't help but notice the dress and eyes matched.

"Are… are you okay?" Sonic asked. With a jolt, he realized that he was starting to get relaxed every time he saw Sierra. He nervously wondered what would happen to him if he saw her back in his world: kill him because he was off guard?

Sierra nodded, making the cone hat on her head bob up and down too. "But… we're captured by the Monarchs."

"That's not good."

"Yes… there's a guard in the hall… that wouldn't let me leave when I peeked out the door."

"How tall?"

"Not very tall, about as tall as I am but she has very long ears…"

"Let me see." Sonic stood up. He marched towards the door, but stopped when he noticed the clothes _he_ was wearing. He looked like something from that Robin Hood movie he watched with- once again- Shadow and Katherine, who had made him watch it. He wore a strange tunic and shorts. He scowled when he realized his shoes were missing, replaced by black boots, and the cowboy hat had been replaced by a Robin Hood kind of hat. Shaking the thought of his appearance away, he opened the door and glanced down a long hallway that stretched out in both directions but when he glanced to the left he saw a familiar face.

The girl guarding the door glanced over at him as Sonic opened the wooden door without much fear. She wore black pants, a white shirt with a light grey vest over it, along with black boots. She wore a black cape and her sky blue eyes narrowed when she saw Sonic. On the top of her head were very long ears that stretched out to a foot above her head as she glared at Sonic, one of the ears flopped down in an angle and her fur was a light tan color. "What are you doing?" The girl asked Sonic as he walked out of the room followed by a nervous Sierra. The girl gripped her hand around a glowing white sword, as if ready to throw it out and slice Sonic's head clean off.

"Hello, Katherine. Mind showing us around?" Sonic asked the girl.

"How do you know her name?" Sierra whispered behind him.

"I'll tell you later!" Sonic whispered back, making Sierra smile faintly.

The girl named Katherine scowled. "How do you know my name? I don't think we have been properly acquainted, hedgehog."

Sonic shook his head at Katherine slowly, like he couldn't believe she was doing this. "Alright, anyways, the name's Sonic."

"Sonic…" Katherine repeated slowly. "Humph! I might as well show you around the place."

"Thank you," Sonic said as Katherine turned around and motioned them to follow her. Sierra nervously walked with Sonic as they investigated the flaming torches.

"The flames never go out, in case you're wondering." Katherine called back as they walked down the long hallway. "The genius known as Tails made them. He's the best inventor known in all the land of Darrius, besides Zap."

"Tails huh?" Sonic grinned. "Fox, two tails?"

Katherine frowned at him and stopped walking. "How did you know that?"

"I'll explain later."

Katherine gave him a serious look, shook her head, and continued walking. They reached the end of the hallway where it curled to the left and formed stairs. Katherine led the way down the stairs, glancing back occasionally to make sure the two were following. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, they reached what had to be the kitchen. Sonic watched two familiar faces moving here and there making food.

"Hello Ladies Cream and Amy!" Katherine greeted. She stopped and pointed out the back door, made of metal, watching them suspiciously as they moved towards the door. Sonic looked around the kitchen, seeing it was an entire mess. Pots and pans hung from the ceiling, wooden bowls were stacked here and there next to a small sink, and most of all there was the scattered remains of old meals that hadn't been thrown out yet throughout the kitchen.

Sonic glanced back and saw Amy as she stopped, brushing aside her long pink quills. Her green eyes stared into Sonic's own and Sonic managed to resist running, but continued to remind himself that this was a different world. The blue hedgehog turned to the rabbit named Cream and saw she was too busy stirring a pot to pay the bystanders any mind.

Sonic waved at them and watched Amy's face turn red, uh-oh that wasn't good. Sonic quickly walked out the door with Katherine following him closely, as if daring him to jump out of line… which suddenly reminded him of Chase back in Ocean Rider. He wondered if he was okay for a split second but pushed the thought away as he got closer to the door.

They walked outside and were greeted by the sight of falling rain. Sonic glanced to the left as Katherine led the way in that direction and saw a small campsite set up. A fire flickered in the center of a circle of tents and a straw dummy was standing in the farthest corner of the tent city, which contained about eight tents.

Sonic then noticed the people in the small tent town. He recognized Blaze the cat sitting next to the campfire and was wearing clothes similar to Katherine's, except a black cloak instead of a black cape and a purple vest instead of a grey one. Her hair was up the same as it always was and her golden eyes turned towards the group. She gasped when she saw them, spun around, and ran towards the others, who were gathered around the straw dummy.

Blaze started talking to them and pointed there way where the group glanced up and over, seeing them. Katherine lifted her hands out. "I'm back and I brought some interesting guests along!"

A familiar face ran towards them. Sonic took a step back when he recognized it as Silver the hedgehog. He was a hedgehog as white as snow… usually but there was mud stained in his fur probably from being out in the rain. He wore the strange boots as he always wore but instead he wore long pants along with a chain link shirt on top of a linen shirt whose sleeves were rolled up his arms. He lifted a gloved hand protectively in front of Katherine. "Did they hurt you?" He asked her, glaring at Sonic and Sierra.

Katherine shook her head. "Surprisingly, no. But I could've handled myself just fine anyways, Silver."

Silver sighed and nodded. He glared at Sonic as Katherine walked towards the others. "You better have not touched her." He growled at them.

"I didn't. Why are you being so overprotective, Silver?" Sonic said, frowning and looking at Silver suspiciously. "You guys wouldn't be siblings would you?"

"No, that's Shadow and Katherine."

"Oh good to see something is _still_ normal here… wait, Shadow?" Sonic turned to the crew and saw the black hedgehog in the group. He wore a black chain link shirt above a black linen shirt, pulling off a similar look as Silver along with the same pants. The only difference was that he wore black boots instead of his familiar hover shoes. His crimson eyes turned to Sonic as Katherine talked to him and the eyes seemed to light up the crimson streaks on his quills.

Shadow walked up to Sonic followed by the rest of the group, which contained Windy, Zap, Shade, and Blaze.

"Oh good, looks like I've found everyone from my place but Tails, Rouge, and Maria." Sonic said dryly.

The group frowned at him, even Sierra looked confused as Sonic crossed his arms and glanced at Shadow. "So Shads, you wouldn't happen to know how to use Chaos Control still would ya?"

The others, except the hedgehog, started snickering but stopped when Shadow glared at all of them in turn.

"Don't call me that." Shadow growled, turning his attention back to Sonic. "And how would you know that nickname?"

"Long story…"

"Do tell." The familiar person named Zap said darkly. His blue eyes were dark and he was known in Sonic's place as being controller of electricity, or lightning. He was a brilliant inventor like Tails and Eggman but he put more of his efforts on fighting and keeping the ones he cared about safe. However, in this world, he looked the same, zigzag scar, dark blue eyes, yellow colored fur, but his clothes were different. He wore similar clothes to Katherine but had a chain link shirt over his shirt instead of a vest along with a black cape.

Sonic took a deep breath. "Okay… might as well tell the story." He glanced back at Sierra and wondered what she would do when she found out she was evil in his world. He quickly explained his story, all the way from walking down the street to waking up in the room with Sierra.

When he was done, everyone stared at him.

"Someone knocked their head a little too hard recently." Windy finally said. She wore clothes identical to Katherine's but her vest was a darker grey then Katherine's. Her forest green eyes seemed to glow in the dark light as she investigated Sonic. She flicked her long, grey catlike tail and twitched her catlike ears as she glanced over to the dummy.

"I don't know," Silver said slowly. "Something about his story makes… sense."

"Makes sense?" Windy snorted. "He exclaims he's from another world, met all of us before, and got transported here by an evil witch named Sierra."

Sierra flinched behind him and Sonic glanced back at her before glaring at Windy.

Shadow shook his head. "I do know Chaos Control… but why would I bother doing it for you? I don't see any reason to even trust you."

Sonic rolled his eyes, same old Shadow. "I need to get back to my world before Sierra destroys all of my friends!"

"So?" Katherine raised an eyebrow.

"So, I don't want them to die." Sonic said, like this was an obvious answer.

Shadow snorted. "Alright, if you want to get back to your home so badly then you're going to have to help us."

Sonic glanced at the black hedgehog.

"You're going to help us take out the King and Queen of the land."

Sonic gasped in shock. "Excuse me?"

**Alright thanks for reading and hoped you enjoyed the chapter, and please do leave a review!**

**Katherine "Is it me… or has all of us gotten very quiet while this story has been out?"**

**Windy "Shhh!"**

**Katherine *blinks in surprise* "….."**


	5. Chapter 5

**THIS STORY IS BROUGHT TO YOU FOR A SERIOUS REASON: I just finished Day of the Dead… good story btw if you haven't read it.**

**Anyways, thank you to the ones who reviewed for the last chapter and for this chapter I will thank you personally: Strife the Dark 152, Swiftshadow123, and Guest**

**Strife the Dark 152= Haha… wouldn't you like to know if it was Team Moon or not :P next chapter and you'll get to see them in action!**

**Guest= Oh yes… some very excellent decisions. Hope you like this chapter as much as the others!**

**Swiftshadow123= I know, a good guy Sierra! Now we're all in screwed- hopefully not though. Haha, Sierra the Pleasant...**

**Chapter Five=**

"Take out the King and Queen?" Sonic the hedgehog repeated. "Why the heck do you want to do that?"

Shadow the hedgehog laughed quietly. "Prepare yourself for a history lesson, Zap?"

Zap glanced back at the campfire behind them and sighed. "How about we all take a seat first? This is going to be a long story."

Everyone gathered around the campfire and looked at Zap as he stared at the flickering flames with an expressionless face. "Long ago… five hundred years or so now, when the land was prosperous free and happy, a group of people rebelled for their own rights and freedoms- they got what they wanted which became known as those… democratic and republic cowboys." Zap shuddered like it was a terrible thing.

Sierra frowned as she sat on a long bench next to Sonic. "A democratic and republic way of society is _not_ a bad thing!" She argued.

"Oh pardon me, having a group of people lead the way of life sounds like a bad idea." Zap snapped back.

"Oh, so what? When the King or Queen makes a bad choice it ruins everyone's way of life." Sierra growled.

Sonic glanced at her; she was starting to sound like the familiar Sierra he knew back in his world.

Zap growled angrily. "At least when the King and Queen realize their mistake they can go back to the way things were faster than a public group of people. You got people in those groups that are selfish and want things to stay miserable!"

"Oh? And what if the King and Queen are murders and don't care about a thing?"

"Then you get rid of them and get new ones." Zap shrugged, like this was a simple answer. "Such as we are doing now will you _please_ let me explain?"

Sierra grumbled something about Monarchs and crossed her arms stubbornly.

"As I was saying," Zap said, glaring at Sierra before glancing at the fire before them. "Five hundred years ago after the cowboys got their own land a new ruler named King Nazo. King Nazo… is a wicked, wicked man. He kidnapped the Indian princess Maria and is using her unusual gifts to grant himself eternal life: which he has now and why he constantly attacks the cowboys and doesn't give them peace. His wife, Lady Shade…"

"Shade? Shade is his _wife_?" Sonic interrupted. He tried to image the proud Echidna warrior in his world marring an evil king named Nazo and ended up bursting out laughing.

Zap glared at him. "Yes, Shade's his wife. Do you have a problem?"

Sonic was laughing too hard to answer.

Sierra frowned and glanced at Zap. "Well, since he met all of us in his world… I guess he knows who Shade is."

"Which I'm still having a hard time believing, by the way." Windy sniffed.

"Well it does explain how he just _knows_ our names." Katherine argued.

Shadow nodded. "She's right, I don't know why but I believe him in a strange way. Not that I trust him any more or less though."

The others nodded in agreement and Katherine pointed at Sierra. "Same goes for you, missy."

Sierra crossed her arms and glared at Katherine, making her ice blue eyes go colder for a moment. "Well pardon me, madam, but I don't care a bit about what you think about me. _You_ kidnapped me from my home, remember?"

Sonic stopped laughing instantly. He sat up straight with a frown. "Hey… that's right. What happen to the town of Ocean Rider?"

Katherine glanced at the others. "You guys were there, I wasn't." She said with a shrug.

Shadow sighed. "We went in, took you, some supplies, and then that girl when she tried to keep us from taking you… knocked her out, and left the town with both of you and supplies."

"Did you burn it down?" Sonic growled, knowing Shadow too well.

"Hey, hey! No need to get protective. You're not even _from_ there anyways. Why would you care?" Windy asked.

Sonic glanced at her. "I have some friends that look like people from my world there!"

Windy sighed. "They're fine. We only caught the bar on fire. Those cowboys get drunk all the time so we thought it'd be only fair."

Sonic scowled at Windy as he thought about Vector and she shrugged innocently. "And I don't drink."

"You better hope they're all right or I'll swear I'll-" Sierra started to growl but Sonic put a hand on her shoulder.

"Calm down," Sonic said to her. "I'm sure Vector got everyone out."

Sierra took a deep breath and glared at the group in front of her.

"So, if you're not working for the King and Queen, why did you attack Ocean Rider?" Sonic asked questionably.

"To get supplies, duh." Katherine said. She held up a white bag that had unknown items in it. "When you're starting a rebellion people don't just give you food you know."

"You stole food." Sonic raised an eyebrow, never imagining Katherine to do something like this back in his world.

"I told you, people just don't give you food when you start a rebellion. This is the real world, hedgehog. People aren't always nice, they kill you if they find you a threat or want power and if the people don't kill you nature does instead." Katherine growled.

"You sounded _just_ like your brother there."

Katherine and Shadow glanced at each other then both glared at Sonic.

"Dinner's ready!" A new voice called. Everyone glanced back to see Cream and Amy carrying a large pot of stew over. They set it on the ground and Cream held a blanket over it to protect the bowl from the falling rain that now soaked everyone but the two girls.

Cream and Amy pulled the soup into wooden bowls and handed it out to everyone. Sierra muttered something about needing to take a break and left, taking the bowl of soup in her hands and sitting by herself next to a dummy. Sonic watched her go with a frown then noticed someone sitting next to him. He glanced over and almost jumped out of his skin when he saw it was Amy.

"Hi…" Amy said, batting her eyelashes at him.

"Hello, Amy."

"Oh my gosh! You know my name!" Amy squealed with glee. She grinned at him and then folded out the folds in her dress and coughed quietly, trying to act calm, which Sonic could see was failing. She looked at Sonic and smiled sweetly. "Can I know your name, Sir Knight?"

"I'm not a knight… well… wait…" The adventures of Camelot mentally smacked him in the face and he shook his head. "Anyways, the name's Sonic, Sonic the hedgehog."

Amy smiled. "It is nice to meet you, Sir Sonic. Let me give you a back story on everyone." She pointed at Blaze, who sat the closest and was talking with Katherine excitedly. Both laughed before tipping their bowls and drinking the soup, not using the spoons Cream and Amy brought out. "That's Blaze. She's a nice girl and all but the reason she's with our group is all because of Silver. We found her being harassed by people not to far from here for being a witch."

"A witch?" Sonic echoed as he stared at Blaze in shock. "What does she do?"

"Conjures up fire mostly," Amy said.

Sonic scowled. He already knew that.

Amy pointed next to Blaze at Katherine as Katherine and Windy started arguing with each other. "That's Katherine, she's one of the best knights here. She and her brother, Shadow used to be the King's best knights until they ran off. They're now on the most wanted list with the rest of us. She's dating Silver by the way so don't try anything on her."

That threw Sonic in a loop. He always thought Blaze and Silver were going to go out soon in this world just like the other world but apparently not.

Amy pointed to Shadow who was next to Katherine. "You already got most of his back story but he's more than just a knight. He's able to use strange magical abilities that none of us get called Chaos Control and others."

Amy's hand floated over to Windy and Zap. "Those two are going out…"

Sonic gagged and Amy looked at him funny before continuing. "They have strange abilities with the lightning and wind and are the fastest sword fighters here. Where they're from no one knows, when Katherine and Shadow first started traveling, they found them raiding a town for food and let them join the group. Silver came in next when they found him trying to steal _their_ food so that's why Silver and Zap hate each other's guts. Blaze came in a few days after they settled their differences. The group found Cream and I… about two months ago now."

"How did you guys get here?" Sonic asked.

Amy blushed. "Well, I was in an arranged marriage sort of situation and Shadow saved me… Cream was my assistant at the time, getting ready for her marriage that was a few weeks after mine."

Sonic frowned, how messed up was this world? "Okay, where did Silver come from?"

"No one but Katherine and Blaze know, they're the only people Silver trusts." Amy explained with a frown. "I hear that he used to be a prince for a far off land though."

Sonic shrugged. "Weird, so you all want to take out the evil King Nazo because…?"

"Because he's evil and is making the land suffer." Amy said with a frown. "The people are starving, he takes what belongs rightfully to them. So, we must stop him. We're doing this for the people, not just ourselves."

Sonic frowned. "So let me get this straight, Nazo is an evil king that's immortal thanks to some Indian princess named Maria so he's been around ever since the first of the cowboys moved over to the western land. So, thanks to that, he wants revenge on them and is trying to get his land back, and is killing them in the process. And, I'm going to take a guess on this; the king still has some followers that think he's a great king, so that is why the cowboys are still fighting the knights and you guys are the rebellion planning on taking out the evil king and getting a better one so it puts peace in the land."

"That's right."

"Ugh, this is all making my head spin." Sonic grabbed onto his head. Cowboys, Knights, all in the same world, Indian princesses named after Shadow's lover from the ARK, immortal, this was almost too much for him to take.

"Maybe you should take it easy for the rest of the day… and your friend too." Amy glanced back at Sierra and Sonic did too, seeing she looked miserable and wet next to the dummy. "You should go talk to her, she looks miserable. I'll go with Cream to check our supplies and see if we have two more tents."

Sonic blinked in surprise and watched Amy walk away towards Cream. He never could've guessed Amy would _willingly_ let him talk to another girl, but then again, this was a different world. He picked up his bowl of soup and moved back to Sierra. He sat on the muddy ground next to her and watched as Sierra quickly wiped something from her eyes and looked away.

"Are you okay?" Sonic asked her, glancing at her empty bowl of soup on the ground between them.

"Fine…" Sierra said, was her voice shaking?

"You don't sound okay." Sonic muttered as he used the spoon to eat a spoonful of the soup. It had sadly gotten waterlogged thanks to the rain but it was still warm with carrots, potatoes, and other warm vegetables in the thick, yellow colored stew.

Sierra glanced at him, her eyes were a bit red and Sonic realized she was crying. "Come on, what's the matter?" Sonic said, showing her a grin.

"I said nothing."

"No, you said you were fine."

Sierra gave him an exasperated look but sighed in defeat. "It's just… I've never been this far away from home before. It's so… scary."

Sierra? Scared? Who knew the day would ever come? Sonic found himself feeling bad for the girl. "Don't worry, I've been far away from home plenty of times."

"You… you have?"

"Yeah," Sonic grinned. "I run all the time where I'm from. I run anywhere, anytime of day. It annoys my friends because I never seem to be around when they need me the most…"

"Do you run to get your mind off of things?" Sierra muttered quietly.

Sonic said nothing and Sierra knew she hit home.

"I'm sorry that was rude, thank you for sitting with me, Sonic. It makes me feel good to know that someone else, just like me, is far from their home. Far from where they belong." Sierra smiled weakly, another real smile.

Sonic gave her a smile and a thumbs up. "Hey, don't worry about it. I can't leave a friend like you down." As soon as he said it, he felt something inside of him snap. Did he just accept Sierra as a friend? Did he _just_ say that? He wasn't sure if he wanted to take it back or mentally smack himself for saying such a thing but looking at Sierra he found himself unable to do either.

"Excuse me," A familiar voice asked. Sonic looked over and saw Cream the rabbit in a simple maid's costume. She curtsied politely. "Sorry to intrude but we got your tents up. Miss Amy and I found two more tents."

"Thanks Cream," Sonic gave her a thumbs up and Cream smiled before walking away.

Sierra stood up. "Well, I guess I should hit the hay…"

"Hit the hay," Sonic snickered. "Alright, I guess I will too. If you need anything just ask."

Sierra smiled, nodded, and walked away, leaving Sonic alone with his shocked self. He shook his head slowly. "Sierra… as a friend?" He said slowly. He then glanced up at the cloudy sky high above him. "If only one of you guys could at least see this happening to me."

**Another chapter done! Please review… or else.**

**Jk, but seriously, please review!**

**Xsus "I'm wearing a cowboy hat! Look at me!" *runs around the room excitedly***

**Xerius *face palms***


	6. Chapter 6

**Katherine *Grins* "Hey people! Can you believe it? I'm writing on the story, isn't it awesome? The author isn't here and she left a note saying she wanted me to update it…"**

**Flame "What are you doing?"**

**Katherine *yelps and falls backwards, off the chair* "FLAME! Don't scare me like that!"**

**Flame *grabs keyboard* "My turn. Anyways, as the Light Giver was saying she left **_**us**_** in charge to take over the duty of posting this chapter. Don't know who I am? Don't worry… you'll know soon. Here's the notes she left for the reviewers and the disclaimer… that you might want to read."**

**BlackStormNomad (AKA my twin name pal)= Yes! You followed me over! I'm glad you like the different personalities for people (I love it too) and hope you enjoy this chapter just as much!**

**Strife the Dark 152 (or as Flame plainly puts it: Strife)= Katherine "Kathy? What is with you people?"  
Flame *snickers*  
And here is your Team Moon chapter! Also, FYI, I kind of changed the way how they were introduced in the beginning from the PM and I hope it works just as well!**

**Raeweis (or… my Canadian buddie :P)= I know! Windy and Zap couple- throws me off too. (Also, you gave me the idea to write my own short stories like you did... but would you consider that copyright? Let me know!) Here's the next chapter!**

**UnknownFollower (… hmm… I got nothing. It's a cool name)= Glad it got less confusing for you- I hate confusing my readers for long. Xsus *giggles and hugs you***

**Chaosthehedgehog (or just Chaos)= I will allow you to do such a thing (are you making an account? YESSSS! Let me know if you are!) but **_**only**_** and **_**only if**_** you use the disclaimer. Just tell them the characters belong to BlackSandHeart :) Also, I'd love to use one of your characters in one of the stories… but it might take awhile for him to pop up (Katherine's going to flip out about this one lol). Or you can just write one but we can do both. I promise I'll use the disclaimer, my friend. (Strife and I are doing the same thing as you will see in this chapter). Also, you're the first who's asked me this.**

**Guest (gah… I can't think of one just now… hang on I'll give you one in another chapter :P)= Truthfully, I wouldn't trust her either… I think all of us are secretly waiting for her to kill Sonic in his sleep or something. Also... thanks for your kind words on Day of the Dead... looks like we'll both go down in the history books :P**

**Maraya Prower (my bubble gum pal!)= My flag waving pal that I hope to hear from soon! Thanks for the review my friend on Day of the Dead :)!**

**DISCLAIMER= I own NOTHING that belongs to SEGA. **_**Also, Strife the Dark and Fengari belong to my friend: Strife the Dark 152. Strife and Fengari are also in the story known as Sonic the Hedgehog: The Darkness Incarnate- which by the way is a good story so you should go read it.**_** In this tale however, I own just the Dimension Jumpers and the amazing story idea.**

**Onward!**

**Chapter Six=**

Sonic the hedgehog awoke the next morning to the familiar sound of clashing swords. He sat up quickly, half expecting himself back in Camelot or back in Tails' workshop with Katherine and Windy arguing over who stole the last bagel with a sword fight while Zap snickered in the corner, eating the bagel.

Except, when he found himself in a tan colored tent, inside a sleeping bag, with no pillow, he blinked, wondering what the heck was going on. It was warm inside the tent and the heat of the tent didn't help Sonic in the slightest way when he finally remembered what was going on.

He panted and wiped the sweat off his brow as he sat up and scowled at the clothes he was wearing still from yesterday. He grabbed his boots, slipped them on, and opened the flap door to the tent where a cool breeze smacked him in the face.

"Good morning, sleepy head!" Katherine called over. She was standing before a couple of smoking logs that Blaze the cat was glaring at.

Sonic frowned and looked up at the bright blue sky above them with the sun shining down happily. It still smelled like it had rained recently but when Sonic crawled out of the tent and touched the ground, it was dried to the bone. He looked around with a frown and was finally able to get a good view of his surroundings thanks to no falling rain.

By the look of things, they were on a mountainside covered with large trees, making a forest. A decaying castle was in front of them on the mountainside and Sonic reckoned that was the place he and Sierra were at yesterday.

He yawned and sat down next to Blaze. "What's going on here?"

"Oh just the usual, you're late by the way." Katherine said as Blaze glared at the logs before her. "Everyone else is awake but you. Shadow, Silver, Windy, and Zap took Sierra out training and she's great with sword fighting, almost a natural. Shadow wants to take you out and try you out later today before we leave."

"Leave? Where are we going?" Sonic asked.

Katherine rolled her eyes. "To the King and Queen's palace of course! What, you think we're going to stop them from way over here?"

"Where is here anyways?"

"An abandoned summer home for the King. He hasn't been here in decades." Katherine explained. "And here is the Mountains of Woe."

"Who came up with these names? The Forest of Shame, the Mountains of Woe…?" Sonic asked, giving Katherine a look.

Katherine sighed, rolling her eyes. "Don't look at me. Nazo made them up, everything except the places on the Indians' and Cowboy's sides but the Cowboys are off naming things like Little Doggie and Diamond Back Ridge so let's face it. Neither side is good with making names for this place."

Blaze pointed at the logs and suddenly, they burst into flames, causing Katherine to jump back in alarm. She let out a sigh of relief and smiled at Blaze. "Good job, Blaze!"

Blaze blushed. "I was just doing my job."

"And you are very good at it too." Katherine smiled. She reached into the pocket of her pants and pulled out a map, similar to the one on Espio's wall. With a pain, Sonic watched Katherine set the map down and wondered if Espio was still okay, along with Xerius, Xsus, and the others.

Katherine pointed to the right corner of the map, the side Espio told him was the Monarch's territory. When he squinted, he could see the fading designs of what looked like mountains. "Here's where we are: the Mountains of Woe." She dragged her finger to the center of the Monarch's territory. "And here's the castle the King and Queen are at. It's heavily guarded but we won't have to worry about that much. Either way, it's about three day's journey to the castle. When we're there we can take out the king and queen, create a new ruler and send you on your merry way back to your world."

"Three days journey huh?" Sonic investigated the map and nodded. "Alright, that'll work for me."

Katherine nodded and rolled up the map. She glanced over at a pile of clothes sitting on one of the logs, picked them up, and tossed it to Sonic. "Amy said you looked ridiculous and saved your clothes... and the weird footwear."

"They're sneakers!" Sonic protested as he threw off his boots and grabbed his familiar red and white sneakers. He almost hugged the sneakers he was so happy but managed to control himself as he slipped them on. He laughed and then started running around the campsite as fast as he could, taking off the Robin Hood hat and replacing it with the cowboy hat as he ran.

Katherine watched him run. _Dang he's fast…_ She thought with a frown. _Maybe as fast as Shadow… maybe even faster._

-XXXXXXXX-

_FAR AWAY…_

"You're it!" A voice echoed throughout the dark forest of the southern reaches of Darrius.

The forest was darker than most forests, known to the native Indians as the Forest of Black Claw. It was known for being the home of witches, ogres, dragons, and many other terrible creatures. Few went inside but the ones that did knew the Legend of the Hunters.

The hunters were known for their dark ideas, plans, and most of all being assassins. No one had seen them up close or in person… except the last three seconds of their victim's lives. Some said there were forty of them, others said there was only one, but obviously no one could confirm their suspicions on how many of these hunters there were.

…until today.

"You know," another voice said, sounding very annoyed. "It's not a good thing to cheat."

"Aw, is someone upset that they're losing?" The first voice mocked.

"Fengari? Was that move allowed in the rulebook?" The second voice demanded.

There was a moment of silence and the sound of flipping pages as a cave suddenly came into view, cleverly hidden between two tall Oak Trees. The inside of it was dark, making it impossible to see inside of the cave, and the entrance was narrow, thanks to being almost covered with tree roots.

"No… Flame, you cheated." A third voice, the one that had to belong to the one named Fengari said.

"What? So just because I pulled out a sword there for just a tiny moment…"

"Flame, you tried to cut my head off." The second voice argued.

"Oh, shut up, Strife." Flame grumbled. She moved forward and peaked out the entrance of the cave, squinting in the bright sunlight that blazed down on her, making her dark hazel eyes become slits and revealing the scar she had that went through her right eye. She was a dark colored cat, almost black and she wore black boots, cloak, a white shirt with a chain link shirt on top of it, and black pants. Her white gloves had the pattern of flames on them and her tail was almost long enough to touch the ground. "Alright, no more of the game Ditch. Someone's upset because I was apparently cheating."

"Excuse me?" Strife demanded from inside the cave.

"Flame…!" Fengari warned, his voice also coming from the cave.

Flame rolled her eyes and moved back into the safety of the cave. In the dark, her eyes adjusted to two other people that she knew well.

Strife the Dark, wearing nothing but his pale black rocket shoes with crystals lining the edges once again, was standing close to the wall with his arms crossed and staring at the rocky ceiling above them. His pale black fur helped him blend easily into the darkness of the cave and the blue streaks on his upturned spines were easier to notice in the light. He had a white tuff of chest fur that wrapped around his neck and turned into crystals at the end. Where his heart was there was a small scar that came from a battle the three fought through long ago. He lowered his green, reptilian eyes onto Flame as she gave him an annoyed look.

"Oh come on," Strife snorted. He laughed quietly to himself because of the look on her face. "You're not mad about losing are you?"

"Of course not!" Flame crossed her arms and stuck her head up in the air proudly as the other member in the cave, Fengari, rolled his eyes, flipping through the pages of the notebook labeled: RULES in his hands. The mystery of how he could read in the dark was unknown and it seemed like no one would ever know. He was used to their bickering, they acted more like they were siblings to him rather than very close friends with Fengari being the oldest and Flame and Strife being the younger kids.

Fengari was a sky blue wolf with an eye patch over his left eye that was embodied with a crescent moon, that didn't completely cover the jagged scar sticking out of it in both directions. His other eye, glowing a silvery color like he was blind, which both Flame and Strife knew was not the case, glinted in the darkness as he flipped through more pages of the notebook with his black, fingerless gloves with crescent moons on them. He had a cowboy hat over part of his white fur that one could call "hair" that went all the way down his back, spiked three times, then continued down to the tip of his tail that almost touched the ground. He wore ripped up blue jeans and scratched his white muzzle for a moment. He wore a cowboy's leather jacket vest along with the mixture as his hands held the notebook before he tucked it in his vest's pocket and looked up at Strife and Flame as they stood there in absolute silence.

There was a long moment of silence until Strife broke it. "You know, I totally won that game."

"Did not!" Flame glared at Strife.

"Shush!" Fengari's long wolf ears suddenly twitched underneath his hat as he glanced towards the front of the cave. "Someone's coming!"

Flame and Strife became silent strained for a sound. When they heard a twig snap, the tips of Strife's gloves grew claws, Fengari grabbed two long knives known famously to Flame and Strife as the Fangs of the Moon, and a black sword appeared in Flame's hands. All three of them turned towards the entrance and saw a figure drop down into the cave. It wore a black cloak with the hood pulled over its head, making it impossible to see their face.

Flame, Strife, and Fengari held their breath and glared at the figure, prepared to attack when Strife gave the command.

"I come in peace!" The figure lifted a hand and pulled back the hood. Flame, Strife, and Fengari straightened up with frowns on their faces as they saw a female Echidna behind the hood. She stared at them with desperate black colored eyes. Her quills were pulled back as she lifted her hands into the air. Underneath the cloak, she wore maids clothing, a brown, ragged dress along with faded slippers. She looked at them as they retracted their weapons, but she couldn't see well in the dark so she could only hear the sound. "I come in peace…" She repeated nervously. "I was wondering…"

"You want to hire us, don't you?" Strife said darkly, cutting her off.

Flame rolled her eyes next to him, typical Strife.

The Echidna nodded. "Yes… yes I do. I heard that Team Moon was the greatest group of assassins in all the land."

"Oh how nice," Flame said, her tone of voice anything _but_ kind. "Someone gave us a title. What's a little lady like you looking for the best assassins in Darrius?"

"Flame…" Strife said quietly and she looked at him before becoming quiet. Strife glanced back at the Echidna. "What do you want us to do?"

The Echidna dipped her head. "I am known as Shade the Echidna. I am the wife to the great King Nazo…"

"King Nazo?" Strife laughed. "Go back to Nazo and tell him we don't serve the king."

The Echidna named Shade raised an eyebrow at the darkness before her. "But your reward will be great and worthwhile."

"I'm listening…" Strife said after a moment of glancing at Flame and Fengari, who both nodded.

Shade smirked but wiped it off her face quickly so the ones in the cave couldn't see it. "The king sees many things but he has been warned of an unexpected force of rebels trying to dethrone him. The one who defeats him is a blue hedgehog."

"Blue hedgehog?" Strife frowned, now he was interested. How could a simple blue hedgehog be able to knock out the five hundred year old King Nazo? Then again, how could Nazo live so long? Strife decided to quit asking himself questions he had no clue the answers were too and stick to the serious things that were making sense.

"Yes, a blue hedgehog. Your mission is to find this hedgehog and to kill him." Shade said darkly. She stood up and threw the hood over her head again. "When you return to your cave after completing the mission, you will have many sacks of gold, enough so that it fills up this entire cave. If you do not go then that is fine with King Nazo and he can find a… ah… more appropriate and better assassin group."

Her words resulted growling from the three assassins.

Shade continued though like what she had just said was as normal as asking someone what the time was. "Leave this forest by tomorrow morning and my master will know you have taken up the quest. Do not leave and he knows you have denied his offer."

With that, the Echidna turned and left the cave. The three became silent, listening until her footfalls had passed and Strife turned to the others.

"What's the plan?" Flame asked, crossing her arms.

"We go. We're leaving at nightfall." Strife said.

"We go…" Flame echoed. She frowned and sighed in disbelief. "Does it strike you a little odd that Nazo is going to just happen to _know_ if we left the forest or not?"

Fengari shrugged. "Makes as much sense as how Nazo survived the last five hundred years."

"Good point." Flame nodded her head slowly, and then she scowled. "You know, it was my turn to intimidate the guest, Strife."

Strife snickered. "You should talk faster next time, Flame."

"Oh shut up."

-XXXXXXXX-

Sierra sighed in disbelief as she walked behind Sonic. She carried a backpack that contained her tent and some of the pots and pans Amy and Cream couldn't bring along. They were climbing down the mountain with Shadow in the back and Katherine in the front, leading the way. Sierra glanced back at Shadow. "Are we there yet?"

"No," The black hedgehog growled, sounding very annoyed.

Sonic managed to stop himself from laughing. He had changed out of most of his clothes that he had first woken up with. He had put on his blue cowboy pants, and hat, his usual sneakers, and kept the knightly vest on. He was carrying a white sword that looked just like Caliburn that Shadow gave to him earlier (when he beat him) around his waist and was carrying a heavy backpack on his shoulders containing his tent and some other items the others couldn't carry. He reached into the vest's pocket and twiddled with Cosmo's white flower he put in there.

There was another long moment of silence. "Are we there yet?"

"No."

"How about now?"

"No."

"Now?"

"No!"

Sierra groaned and used her black boot to kick a large rock off the small mountain trail they were traveling down. She now wore clothes identical to Windy and Katherine but was wearing a black vest, which sadly reminded Sonic of the real Sierra back in his world.

Down the line, the others were trying not to laugh as Shadow became even more annoyed.

After a few more feet, Katherine pulled out the map in the front of the line and stopped, resulting in the others stopping along the trail behind her. She glanced at the path ahead of her, which branched off in two separate directions.

"What's the matter Katherine?" Shadow called down to her.

"Nothing!" Katherine called back up. "Just a fork in the road!" She glanced at her map with a frown and used her eyes to follow the trail down the mountain. She smiled when she saw that she needed to take the path to the right. She closed up the map and led the team down the right path.

"It's almost dark outside," Silver the hedgehog said seriously as he walked beside her. "Maybe we should take a stop for the night soon."

"But we're almost to the bottom of the mountain!" Katherine said with a frown, glancing back at him.

"I'm sure Shadow's going to slice Sierra's head off soon if we don't stop." Blaze said seriously from behind Silver as she glanced back at the irritated black hedgehog.

Katherine glanced at the sky, which was turning the colors of blue, orange, red, and purple thanks to the setting sun. She sighed in defeat. "Alright, next clearing we'll set up camp."

When they reached the next clearing, Sierra ran ahead, fell to the ground and thanked practically everything in the universe they had made it. Katherine rolled her eyes and turned to Sonic as he walked by. "Evil in your world, huh?"

"Don't worry," Sonic said, looking at Sierra. "I'm having a hard time with this too."

Katherine laughed and they all pitched up tents. Windy and Zap went their way into the woods to gather firewood while Amy and Cream pulled their cooking supplies out of Sonic's backpack. Shadow helped set up the straw dummy they brought along with them and Sierra instantly attacked it as soon as it was up with her new black sword that, to Sonic, looked exactly like his world's Sierra's black sword.

Soon, everything was done, Blaze had lit the campfire and Amy and Cream were cooking dinner. While the other pulled up logs or large rocks to sit on.

Sonic sighed in relief as he leaned back. "So in two more days we'll reach the castle?" He asked the others.

"If everything goes by smoothly, yes." Katherine said with a shrug.

Windy smirked. "If everything goes by smoothly. Please tell me a time when things went by smoothly, Katherine."

Katherine glared at Windy.

Sonic frowned and Amy laughed as she glanced at Sonic. "Things normally never go according to plan for us." She said to him with a smile.

Sierra rolled her eyes. "Sounds like my life."

Sonic cracked a smile.

After that, dinner was done, another evening with soup was given out to everyone and Sonic wondered if steak was available in this world, probably wasn't, but he still wondered. He ate his soup quickly thanks to never having lunch and the others did too.

When they were done, Zap told believable stories involving a time before King Nazo, a time of peace that and adventure arising where knights saving beautiful princesses was an option for once instead of struggling for survival.

After Zap's third story involving a brave prince barely surviving from a couple assassins, Blaze stood up and yawned. "It has been fun telling stories and all but I think I will be going to bed now."

"We all should," Shadow said, glancing at Zap. "One more story and I think I was going to fall asleep."

"You're just jealous you can't tell stories as good as he can." Windy stuck her tongue out at the black hedgehog and then walked away with Zap, hand in hand while Sonic struggled to comprehend the fact that they were dating once again.

Shadow sighed. "I'll take the first watch."

Katherine glanced at her brother. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, now go to bed."

Katherine grumbled something as she stood up and walked towards her tent. She glanced back at her brother. "Wake me up in an hour or two so I can take watch too!"

Shadow snorted as soon as she was gone and glanced at Silver. Both of them started laughing quietly to each other while Sonic frowned at them. "What's so funny?"

"Like we're going to let Katherine take watch after last time." Silver laughed quietly. "Last time she stayed up all night and refused to wake anyone else up."

Shadow sighed. "Obviously related to me."

Sonic rolled his eyes. "You guys can wake me up instead."

"Maybe," Shadow shrugged and glanced at Sierra. "You want to take watch?"

"Me?" Sierra shrugged. "Sure… I guess so."

"Alright, you'll take watch after me, Silver your next, and you'll go get Blaze for the last hour or two." Shadow said.

"I said I could take watch," Sonic grumbled.

"I still don't trust you."

"Yet you trust Sierra? No offence." Sonic glanced at Sierra, who shrugged like the question didn't bother her in the slightest.

"Nope." Shadow nodded. "Goodnight." He added after a pause.

Sonic grumbled something as he stood up and walked away. He was about to walk into his tent when he felt a hand grab onto his wrist. Expecting it to be Amy, Sonic flinched and glanced backwards slowly but was surprised to find Sierra. She smiled at him kindly. "You know, you can take watch with me if you'd like to, Sonic. I trust you."

Sonic frowned and then smiled. "Alright, I'll help you."

Sierra smiled and moved to her tent on the other side of the circle. "Okay, see you then, Sonic!" She called.

Sonic watched her go and suddenly frowned when he found the smile on his face.

**Flame "And there you go…"**

**Katherine "What the heck are you doing?"**

**Flame *glares at her* "Playing the guitar, duh." *strums a G cord***

**Katherine "… I need to get to know you better."**

**Flame "Yes you do. Now please review… or I'll enjoy throwing this guitar over your head."**

**Katherine "Dark aren't you?"**

**Flame "And **_**you**_** think Sierra's bad."**

**Sierra *walks in* "In your DREAMS Flame!"**

**Katherine *face palms***


	7. Chapter 7

**Flame "Okay… one, two, a one, two, three!" *Blasts rock music using the guitar***

**Me *walks into room, yelling* "WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING?"**

**Flame "WHAT?"**

**Me "TURN IT DOWN!"**

***Stops playing* Flame *sighs* "Sorry, apparently I can't have fun with my guitar here."**

**Ria *walks in half asleep* "What was that? Were we being bombed again?"**

**Me "Don't worry about it, Ria, got back to sleep."**

**Ria *nods slowly, eyes droop, and leaves the room***

**Me "Poor thing, she's sick today. Anyways, this chapter was brought to you by the reviewers: raeweis, BlackStormNomad, Strife the Dark 152, UnknownFollower, and Chaosthehedgehog"**

**Raeweis= Haha, I love those traveling moments and thanks for letting me try it, there's a scary story and what not but… yeah I'll let you read it and find out what happens :P**

**BlackStormNomad= Twin name pal! Hmm… so Windy reminds you of an old friend and Katherine reminds out of your foster mother… is that a good or a bad thing? Lol, juuust wondering. Also, I checked out one of your stories like you'd asked (it was flippin' amazing btw, Katherine's related to a VAMPIRE?).**

**Strife the Dark 152= Flame "Excuse me? Flamingo?" *tackles Strife*  
Fengari *anime tear drop* "Umm…"  
Anyways, yes! I get applauded for my work! I hope you enjoy the next chapter(s) while you're out and about.**

**UnknownFollower= Noooo! Well… tell your sis I said congrats… wait. No. Don't do that. Haha, she doesn't even know who I am. Well by the time you'll come back hopefully a lot of chapters will be updated so it'll entertain you for a long while!**

**Chaosthehedgehog= **_**SCORE!**_** Alright, when you get an account let me know it's you… wait… you'll probably have the same penname… anyways… I'll PM you so we can swap notes and stuff. Chaos probably won't appear in this story but I'll guarantee he'll appear in the next.  
Yes! A friend/reviewer of mine is getting an account… yes… lol**

**Disclaimer= I own nothing that belongs to SEGA. ****Strife, Mangetsu, and Fengari belong to Strife the Dark 152. The story they're from (which you should read) is called Sonic the Hedgehog: The Darkness Incarnate.**** All that this author owns would be the Dimension Jumpers, the story idea, and the land of Darrius!**

**Chapter Seven=**

A tall silvery blue hedgehog wearing a long, velvet red robe walked down the steps out to his back balcony that overlooked his blessed city. There was no crown on his head, but his jagged blue quills that stuck straight up like Super Sonic's did and that probably would've never allowed a crown to sit on his head. He held a scepter in his hands and used it like a walking stick as he marched out towards a glass ball standing on the balcony railing, tempting to fall over.

He put white gloved hands on the glass ball and closed his eyes, concentrating. In a flash of light, he saw three figures running through the woods in the darkness of the night, a figure walking up the stairs to his room, and a campsite where a blue hedgehog was talking with a black cat.

The hedgehog sneered and released his grip on the glass ball before looking up at the pale moon rising into the star lit sky with gold colored eyes.

The door knocked behind him. "Come in," The hedgehog said coldly. His voice sounded as smooth as cold metal. The large wooden door opened and a figure walked in and bowed before the hedgehog. "My King, I have completed my mission."

"Very good job, Shade." The King of Darrius, Nazo, said. He turned and looked at her seriously as the figure took off their hood and revealed it to be Shade the Echidna. She stood up before Nazo as he waved her away. "You're dismissed."

"But my lord, aren't you happy to see me?" Shade asked, a bit of sadness in her voice.

Nazo glanced over, raised an eyebrow, and turned to the city before him. It was dark and quiet down below since rules were that curfew to be inside started at sunset. Whoever defied that rule was killed on sight. "I am always glad to see you, my queen, but I am uneasy for that blue hedgehog is still moving around freely and is still alive."

Shade frowned. "But my lord, I sent the assassins…"

Nazo glanced at the crystal ball, remembering the figures running through the forest, staying cleverly in the shadows. "I know you did, but it still does not relieve my uneasiness. The Indian princess _still_ predicts my end even with the assassins on the move."

"Well, her predictions will be wrong this time." Shade said boldly.

"That's the problem. They have_ never_ been wrong." Nazo growled. He slammed a fist so hard on the balcony railing the grey stone cracked and made a dent of where Nazo's fist was. He spun around and marched into the room, that revealed a bed to the far left hand corner, a door leading into the bathroom on the right, and a door straight ahead. The walls were decorated with pictures of hedgehogs, wolves, and other animals with crowns on their heads- kings before Nazo or family members.

"I am going to visit the prisoner princess and see if she still predicts my end." Nazo growled. "And if the assassins don't do their job right I will go and kill the hedgehog _myself_!"

He marched out of the room and slammed the door hard enough to cause the picture of Nazo's rival: Mangetsu, who tried overthrowing him a few years back and failed. Shade walked over and picked up the picture, looking at the blue wolf in the picture. Why he was still on Nazo's wall if he had tried killing him?

Shade sighed and placed the picture on the ground gently, knowing the maid would pick it up and put it back in its rightful place before walking out of the room.

-XXXXXXXX-

Sonic woke early the next morning and got out of his tent, stretching.

His night shift guarding with Sierra wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. She asked him many questions about his world: if I'm in your world do I at least have some good in me? Xsus can fly- how did _that_ happen? Tails, huh? Isn't he that genius Katherine was saying built those never-runs-out torches? And many more. He barely got to ask her any questions but all that he was able to get out of her was that her family and old friends died in a fire when the Monarchs invaded the now dead town known as Long Ranch and she came to Ocean Rider for a new life where the locals let her in willingly.

Sonic did his best trying to answer all of her questions but there were a few that he couldn't answer. The one that bothered him the most was this one: in the other world, why did I kill people? He couldn't answer that one. He thought he knew the answer of course: you're a Follower of Darkness, part of a very evil group of people so you just killed everyone that got in the way of your plans. But after getting to know a different Sierra in this world, he wasn't sure if that was the entire reason why she killed people.

The blue hedgehog noticed Blaze the cat was already awake. She was laying on a log she pulled in earlier and was staring up at the sky as it turned golden, welcoming the sun into the sky for another day. Sonic walked up to her and looked up at the sky. "Nice morning, huh?"

Blaze jumped, startled that Sonic talked to her and sat up, seeing Sonic. "Oh! Hello Sonic. Didn't expect you to be awake so early… after yesterday and all that walking."

Sonic shrugged and sat down on the log next to her and both looked up at the sky again. Blaze blinked as she looked up at the sky. "There's an Indian legend that the sun and moon goddess Nini pushes the sun across the sky. Sunrise is where she pushes the sun forward and sunset is when she catches the sun and puts it away. Same goes for the moon."

Sonic glanced at her with a frown. "That's a weird legend."

Blaze shrugged. "I'm not an Indian. The traveling merchant Rouge told me about that legend since she goes everywhere."

_Rouge… a traveling merchant… ha._ Sonic thought and then laughed to himself while Blaze frowned at him. "What is so funny?"

"Oh, in my world, Rouge has a thing for emeralds and goes after my friend Knuckles all the time trying to steal a powerful gem called the Master Emerald." Sonic explained.

"The… Master Emerald?"

"Yeah, it's a large emerald filled with Chaos Energy."

"How… how strange."

"We have Chaos Emeralds too in our world."

"What do they do?"

"They're like miniature versions of the Master Emerald."

Blaze frowned and laced her fingers together, looking at the sky. "What a strange world that you live in, Sonic the hedgehog."

Sonic shrugged. "Eh, you get used to it."

"How many of these… _Chaos Emeralds_ are there in your world?" Blaze asked.

"Seven. Once you gather all seven of them you get… ah… I'm going to lose you never mind." Sonic said with a frown.

"No, no, I'll try to understand. This is quite an interesting tale."

"Well, when you gather all seven you get a huge amount of Chaos Energy and if it's in the hands of good people then you can use the energy for good purposes, if in the hands of evil it is used for evil purposes, makes sense?"

"Hmm… I guess it does in a strange way." Blaze nodded. "And it's this Chaos Energy used for evil purposes that the Sierra in your world used to take you here?"

"Yep," Sonic nodded.

"And it's the good Chaos Energy that you need to get back home?"

Sonic nodded again and stood up. "Well… I'll be back when the others wake up. I need to take a run!"

"Sonic!" Blaze scolded. "What if we need your help here?"

"Well what's going to happen?"

"Nazo sends guards after us, assassins, dragons, ogres, are you following _me_ now, Sonic the hedgehog?" Blaze demanded, standing up.

"I'm following, I'm following!" Sonic waved his hands at Blaze, hoping she wouldn't try burning him. "I'll be right back, I promise! No later than five minutes!"

"Sonic!" Blaze called as the blue blur turned and ran off, leaving her in dust and a gust of wind. Blaze crossed her arms as soon as he was gone and scowled. "I wonder if in his world I hate him this much too."

"No, not at all." A voice said behind her.

Blaze glanced back and sighed. "Hello, Sierra."

"Hello," Sierra sat down on the log Blaze and Sonic were sitting at earlier. Blaze sat down next to her and looked at Sierra. "How do you know how much I hate or do not hate Sonic in the other world?"

"He's told me about some of his adventures." Sierra explained. "Apparently, in his world, you're from the future and another dimension."

"How strange…"

"And you guard things called Soul Emeralds, they're just like Chaos Emeralds but they're from your world." Sierra continued. "You should hear some of his stories, he's got quite a couple of funny ones."

"Like what?" Another new voice said. Both girls looked up and saw that the rest of the camp was awake and listening into their conversation. Katherine showed a cocky grin. "What you can't just leave us hanging. Tell us a story with all of us in it!"

"She'll have to tell us along the way to the castle." Shadow grumbled. "We have to get moving before someone tries to stop us."

Katherine looked annoyed but nodded. "Alright… everyone pack up!"

Everyone turned around and started packing and Sonic slid to a stop in front of the packing campsite. When he saw Blaze glaring at him he lifted his hands up innocently. "What? I said I'd be back in five minutes!"

-XXXXXXXX-

"I can't believe it," Amy said in disbelief. "I waste my peaceful days in Sonic's world chasing after Sonic? What kind of life is that?"

Sonic laughed to himself as he walked up in the front of the line with Shadow leading the way and Katherine in the back.

They had been walking for many hours now and were far away from the mountains. They were slowly growing into a speck in the distance and the entire time they had walked so far, Sierra told stories about everyone, and did a good job at it too. Sonic would add in some things Sierra forgot to mention here and there but besides that, she was good at story telling.

The crew went into silence when Sierra finished they walked along with the bags on their backs. Then, Sonic realized something. Sierra didn't say anything about herself in the other world. Not a word. Sonic frowned, wondering if it was because she felt guilty that in another world she was killing thousands of innocent lives daily. Or maybe it was another, more serious reason. He shook it off with the frown on his face still.

The blue blur looked up at the sky, seeing it was growing darker and that the team would need to stop soon for the night. They walked out to the edge of the forest where it showed the long grass of the plains slowly waving in a simple forest wind. Sonic looked at the sight around him with his eyes wide, surprised at the sight before him.

Suddenly, Shadow stopped and Sonic accidently ran into him. The black hedgehog glanced back at him and growled angrily before looking out into the forest again. "Watch it, Faker."

Sonic rolled his eyes. Shadow was even picking up on the nicknames Sierra told him about.

"What's the matter, Shadow?" Amy asked from behind Sierra.

"Someone's out there…" Shadow growled.

"Who?" Katherine dropped her bag from her shoulders and pulled out her sword. The others followed her lead, except Amy and Cream. The two girls pulled out pots and pans from their bags and held them like they were weapons.

"I don't know," Shadow growled. "But someone is out there."

"Why is it that all our missions end interestingly?" Windy muttered. Zap snickered next to her and both of them raised their swords.

Suddenly, someone dropped out of the trees far away from them and walked out into the fading sunlight with their hands raised. "Hey! Hey! Drop the weapons. It's just me!"

Amy groaned and dropped her pan. She put her hands on her hips and glared at the newcomer. "Rouge! You scared us!"

Rouge the bat walked up with a large leather bag hanging around her neck. "Sorry, cutie, I was just in the neighborhood and decided to drop by." She spread out her wings and flew over to the traveling group. She was wearing dark black clothes, the same kind she wore in Sonic's dimension but entirely black. She also wore a black cloak that sat on her shoulders and waved in the gust of wind. She put a hand on the bag and the other one on her hip. "I was planning on heading to the cowboy's side of town when I heard some familiar voices. What are you guys doing out here?"

"We're heading to the castle." Shadow explained. "To take out the king."

"To take out the king?" Rouge repeated, her eyes grew wide. "Speaking of the king, I was at his place yesterday. Apparently from what I gather he's sent some assassins after a group of rebels. You don't think it could be your group could it?"

"What group of assassins?" Shadow asked.

"I don't know, they're called Team Moon or something."

"Team Moon?" Shadow repeated. He cursed under his breath and looked at the others. "Team Moon is the legendary assassins from the south…"

"You mean the ones from the Indian territory where people keep getting mixed up about?" Rouge asked.

Sonic frowned. "Sorry to barge in but… Team Moon?"

Rouge looked at Sonic and gave him a suspicious look. "Who's this guy?"

"I'm Sonic the hedgehog," Sonic gave her a trademark grin and thumbs up. Rouge raised an eyebrow and nodded slowly.

"Where did you pick him up at?"

"Ocean Rider." Shadow grumbled.

"Ocean Rider!" Rouge's eyes grew big. "Why, that's where Knuxie and Xie live! Did you see Xerius? How about Knuckles?"

"Saw the knucklehead and the silent one while I was there." Sonic grinned.

"Rouge!" Sierra cried, running up to the bat.

"Sierra! How good it is to see you!" Rouge said they gave each other a hung and held hands before smiling at each other. "And you've changed into the clothes of a traveling knight! And is that a sword? Oh my, how you've grown!"

"Rouge I can't believe it's you!" Sierra said cheerfully. "Since you're going to the cowboy territory will you stop by Ocean Rider and tell everyone Sonic and I am okay?"

"Wouldn't dream of missing that town!" Rouge said. She reached into her bag with a frown on her face. "Hang on a moment, I found something. I wanted to keep it but I think you should have it, Sierra. I've been hunting for a rarer diamond but haven't caught it yet so I don't see a point for this shiny object."

"You mean Xerius' heart?" Sierra teased.

Rouge gave her a look and pulled out an all too familiar white emerald out of the bag. She handed it to Sierra with a smile. "There you go, kid."

"Oh Rouge! It's beautiful!" Sierra said, lifting up the White Chaos Emerald up to her face.

Sonic's jaw dropped. "Where did you find that, Rouge?"

"Hmm? Oh, over by the Forest of Shame. I was there about six days ago. Weird things have been happening everywhere." Rouge said with a shrug.

"That's a Chaos Emerald!" Sonic gasped.

"A Chaos Emerald?" Rouge sniffed. "What's that?"

Blaze took her turn to gasp. "That? That's a Chaos Emerald?"

Sonic nodded. "With that I should be able to go home now!"

There was a moment of silence and Rouge frowned. "Okay… did someone hit their head a little hard recently?"

"I've wondered that myself." Shadow said, a smirk on his face.

Sonic glared at him and Sierra handed him the Chaos Emerald. The look on her face was a bit crestfallen. "Are… are you leaving?"

"I have to," Sonic said. "Sierra… the evil one, not you… will kill my friends if I don't."

Sierra frowned and Sonic noticed tears filling up in the corners of her eyes.

"Sierra?" Sonic asked he took a step forward and put one of her hands in his hands. "I'll be back. I promise."

Sierra shook her head, not saying anything as the tears started streaming down her face. Sonic found himself unsure what to do. Why was she sad? He looked around and saw annoyed, disbelief, and shocked faces on everyone else's faces. Were they mad at him? Why?

"Leave." Sierra finally said gruffly. She took her hand out of Sonic's and took a step back. Her blue eyes were now an icy cold that sent shivers up Sonic's spine. Tears streamed down her face and she pointed at the emerald. "Take the emerald and leave. See if I care!"

"What's the matter?" Sonic said, confused.

All the girls in Sonic's group shook their heads behind him slowly while Sierra said nothing, the dark look still in her eyes.

"Sierra…?"

Suddenly, someone appeared out of nowhere, kicked Sonic in the back of the head, and vanished into thin air, resulting someone screaming his name, and other cries as Sonic fell to the ground. Sonic struggled to his feet, rubbing the back of his head and gasped when he saw the Chaos Emerald missing from his hands.

**Me "Cliffhanger! …Gah, my ears are still ringing, Flame."**

**Flame *shrugs innocently***

**Xsus *runs in excitedly* "Look people! A COWBOY HAT! Yay!"**

**Xerius *runs after him* **_**"Xsus!"**_

**Zap *marches in* "Xsus, give me my hat back!"**

**Me *face palms* "Um… I'll go fix that. Anyways, you should review… as Xsus says: reviews are like ice cream, they cheer you up on a bad day. Okay see ya'll later!"**


	8. Chapter 8

**Me *sneaks into room, onto computer, and turns to Xsus* "Not a sound Xsus."**

**Xsus *giggles quietly* "Alright, alright!"**

**Me *sighs* "Day of rest, never wake up Zap while he's sleeping. Anyways, this chapter was brought for your enjoyment by the reviewers: BlackStormNomad, Strife the Dark 152, Guest, and Chaosthehedgehog!"**

**BlackStormNomad= Twin name pal! Haha, so Katherine flipped out about being related to a stalker vampire yesterday:  
Katherine "SHADOW! YOU DIDN'T TELL ME THAT I WAS RELATED TO AN EVIL VAMPIRE! IT'S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE HE GOES AFTER US!"  
Shadow "Calm down! I doubt he can get us in this dimension!"  
Katherine *looks horrified and pulls out the garlic from the cupboard*  
Me "…yeah… that's what basically happened. And yes, Braelyn, he has a lot of energy and that's not even him on a sugar high… that's always scary to see."  
Xsus "No it's not! It's hilarious!"**

**Strife the Dark 152= I'll let Flame talk to you.  
Flame: "Oh so you manage to find time on your trip? Well it proves you're not always busy ignoring us, humph. Anyways, here's the Team Moon chapter, hope you enjoy it."  
Strife *appears next to her*"And why would I ignore you…?"  
Flame *grabs Fengari's ****cowboy hat and walks away stiffly*  
Strife *laughs***

**Guest= Here here for the frying pans! Anyways, haha you're going to find out who the ninja is… in about another three seconds or so. And glad you liked the creepy story that was done Zap-style! Thanks for the review(s)!**

**Chaosthehedgehog= ALL of them… or just the important ones? Okay… I'll give you all of them but if you want a better description you're going to have to PM me when you get an account :P It'll take up the entire page if I do it on here lol but here's the shorter version:  
Zap= golden cat, zigzag scar through the left side of his face, goes through his eye, dark blue eyes.  
Windy= dark gray cat, forest green eyes, circle with twirl mark on forehead, dark grey "hair" that hands halfway down her back.  
Katherine= tan colored cat, sky blue eyes, diamond in center of her forehead, tan colored "hair " as long as Windy's. Long ears that stretch a foot above her head.  
Xerius= light brown cat with dark brown spots, brown eyes, hair that somewhat hangs in his face, claws are almost a foot long.  
Xsus= golden cat, with large, flat ears the size of maple leaves, ocean blue eyes. Stars on his forehead and tips of his ears.  
Chase= Long ears that flatten down at the end like a dog, tips of tail, ears, hands, and feet are black while the rest of his body is a light gray color. Aqua blue eyes.  
Jackson= A dark grey color cat with long ears like Chase's that spike out in the end five times like a deer antlers. Light hazel eyes.  
Ria= Pink cat with a light blue circle in her forehead, ears flatten like a dog's and has sky blue eyes.  
Flame (…do you want her in it?)= almost black colored fur, dark hazel eyes, hair similar to Amy Rose but goes to her neck.  
Sierra (her too?)= black cat, ice blue eyes, and hair just like Katherine and Windy's but black.  
And now I got a question for **_**you**_**, what is Chaos' personality like?  
**

**DISCLAIMER= I own nothing that belongs to SEGA. **_**Strife and Fengari belong to Strife the Dark 152 and are in the story: Sonic the Hedgehog: the Darkness Incarnate (which you should read).**_ **All that this author owns would be the Dimension Jumpers, the story idea, and the land of Darrius. Copyrighting any of my characters (or Strife's) would result in Zap shocking you with his metal spoons.**

**Chapter Eight=**

"Who the heck tried kicking me in the back of the head…?" Sonic demanded as he slowly pushed himself to his feet and glanced backwards.

In the shadows of a tree stood a hedgehog in crystalline armor that covered it from head to toe. It turned its triangle shaped helmet towards the group and then took off the helmet, revealing a male hedgehog with quills that curved upwards and blue stripes running along the quills. His neon green eyes seemed to glow in the darkness of the tree as he stared at the crew.

The dark colored hedgehog smirked as the others lifted up their swords, fists, or pots and pans as they prepared to defend themselves. The mysterious hedgehog tossed the white Chaos Emerald that was in his right hand into the air and caught it, his green eyes turning to Sonic. "So, you're the blue hedgehog."

Sonic narrowed his eyes. "That's me."

The hedgehog's green eyes flashed. "Hmm… you're an interesting character. It's such a pity I have to kill you soon before I get to meet you."

Sonic grinned, lifting his fists. "How about you give me back the Chaos Emerald and I'll show you a thing or two about me."

"I think not," The hedgehog sighed and the Chaos Emerald disappeared in thin air. "I have to kill you, blue hedgehog, orders are orders. You won't be able to show me anything."

Sierra jumped forward. "You can't just hurt innocent people without a good reason! Even if they are a bunch of selfish jerks!"

Sonic frowned at Sierra. Where did that come from?

"I am an assassin." The hedgehog grumbled. "Is that a good reason for you?"

Sierra frowned. "Actually, yes, yes it is."

The sky above them grew darker as the sun set and the shadows grew longer as the hedgehog walked out from the remaining shadows of the tree. He lifted a hand, concentrated and a glowing, crystallized cutlass appeared in his hand. "Allow me to introduce myself, blue hedgehog, I am known as Strife the Dark. Now, are you ready to meet your end, hedgehog?"

Sonic lifted a fist. "Bring it on!"

Suddenly, someone appeared out of thin air and kicked Sonic in the side of the face. The blue hedgehog slid and he groaned, getting up again and seeing another new face. "Gah… Who?"

A dark colored cat stood silently next to a stunned Sierra and the newcomer showed a dark grin. "The name's Flame. Be sure to tell the dead that when you go to…"

"Flame…!" Strife warned and the cat named Flame stopped short, glaring at Sonic with dark hazel eyes.

Sierra turned to her, eyes blazing. "You did not just do that."

"Yes I did. Would you like me to do it to you too?" Flame growled, glancing at the black cat. As the two of them stood practically side by side, Sonic was able to see that Flame was _not_ a black cat but her dark fur was pretty close to being black.

Sierra said nothing as she lifted her sword and Flame held out a hand. "Dark Blade." She said and a glowing black sword made of darkness appeared in her hands.

The hedgehog named Strife suddenly lunged at Sonic and the blue hedgehog ran off at full speed with Strife right behind him. On the other hand, Flame managed to take on Sierra as they both started slicing each other. Getting out of their shock, the rest of the group then split up, some heading after Sonic while the rest tried assisting Sierra.

"Miss Sierra!" Cream called out. "Be careful!"

Flame snickered. "Looks like someone cares about your little head being decapitated."

"Hmm… that can go both ways." Sierra said darkly, spinning her sword.

The two lunged at each other and sparks flew as the swords collided.

Meanwhile, Sonic slid to a stop, turned around, and swung a punch at Strife, who easily dodged it. He kicked Sonic in the back of the head as he went past the blue blur and Sonic flew forward, sprawling out on the ground. Once he got to his feet again, he pulled out the sword Shadow gave him earlier and lunged at Strife, who easily dodged all his swings.

Shadow suddenly appeared behind Strife and wrapped Strife's hands behind his back. As Sonic swung the sword again to slice Strife's head off, Strife and Shadow both ducked at the last moment and the blade missed both of them.

Strife then melted into the darkness around him and reappeared in a tree. Shadow and Sonic both turned to him and Shadow drew his blade. "You go for the left, I'll take the right!" Sonic said to the ebony hedgehog and both jumped forward. In the back of his mind, Sonic wondered how they were going to be able to take out this hedgehog when all his moves seemed to be darkness related and it was almost dark out.

Strife jumped into the air, out of the tree and landed quietly away as the two hedgehogs scrambled up the tree and found nothing. He watched the blue hedgehog named Sonic look around frantically inside the tree and smirked. So _this_ was the one that was supposed to kill the king? Strife actually expected someone… taller and more impressive looking.

"Stop!" A new voice called.

Strife glanced over with a frown and saw Silver the hedgehog looking at him. "It doesn't have to end like this." Silver said to him.

"Yes it does." Strife cut him off before he could say anymore. "It's my mission to kill the hedgehog and I will do just that!"

Blaze the cat walked up next to Silver and shook her head at him. The white hedgehog nodded and ran off towards Flame, and Strife watched him go angrily. He was about to run after Silver but was stopped by Blaze. "Strife, the king and queen have done harsh things to all of us. Why don't you help us out? We could use a brilliant fighter like you."

Strife didn't know what to say. He stood there and inspected the purple cat with a frown on his face. "Why would I do that? I have a team that needs me." He finally said after a pause.

"They could join too." Blaze said with a frown on her face. "Come on Strife. Killing Sonic will not solve any of your problems. Do you even think the king will pay you back? He's promised to pay back hundreds of others too but they're still out there on the streets begging for food."

Strife frowned. It was true, Nazo was known for never keeping his promises.

Blaze lifted her hands towards Strife. "I know you really don't want to work with Nazo. He's brought suffering into your life just like he has for the rest of us."

Strife glared at her. "You don't know me."

Blaze nodded. "No, I don't. But no one wants to work with Nazo. He's a liar, a killer, and a traitor."

Strife looked thoughtful as Shadow and Sonic hopped out of the tree, finally spotting the dark colored hedgehog. Sonic was about to charge at Strife when Shadow grabbed him and yanked him back. Sonic crashed hard onto the ground while Strife crossed his arms. "Very well. I see that you have made a point. I will help you then. Let me assemble my team first, is that not okay?"

"It's fine." Blaze dipped her head politely. "Thank you for understanding Strife."

Strife nodded and vanished into the darkness. As soon as he was gone, Blaze let out a long sigh of relief. "I can't believe he actually listened to me, and I barely even know him!" She said to Sonic and Shadow as they walked up to her.

"Well, you did a good job. Wonder how he's going to 'assemble his team'." Shadow said darkly.

"One way to find out," Sonic said he started running towards the fight Flame and Sierra were still having. "Come on! Let's help Sierra out!"

Shadow and Blaze glanced at each other, shrugged, and walked after Sonic as he ran towards the fighters.

-XXXXXXXX-

Flame swung her sword and Sierra ducked at the last possible moment. Both girls glared at each other until Sierra swung her sword again and sparks flew once more as the two swords collided.

They jumped back and glared at each other once more as everyone stood back, not wanting to get hit by the fighters. Silver was standing behind Sierra. "Knock her out Sierra! You can do it!" Silver called to Sierra, resulting in Katherine rolling her eyes with a smile on her face.

"Oh he is _really_ annoying." Flame glared at Silver.

Sierra smirked. "What's the matter? Never had your butt kicked before?"

"I'm just getting warmed up!" Flame replied boldly, her hazel eyes glowing like fire. She was about to lunge at Sierra again when she felt a hand grabbed her own, forcing her to stop. She glanced back and sighed in disbelief when she saw Strife. "Strife!"

"I can't let you do that anymore." Strife said quietly to her.

"But…!" Flame growled. "It's not fair! What happened to the mission?"

"We now have a deal with them. Besides, it wasn't like Nazo was going to keep his promise anyways." Strife said dryly.

Flame said nothing, but nodded her head after a moment of thought, lowering her sword.

Sierra was about to jump forward and attack while both were distracted but got stopped by Sonic as he slid to a stop in front of her. "Sonic! Out of the way!" Sierra cried.

"I can't let you hurt them, Sierra. They're on our side now!" Sonic said to her.

Sierra frowned and looked at the two before glancing back at Sonic. "A-alright… I guess… if you say so… but I don't trust Flame! She's a ruthless fighter!"

_So are you…_ Sonic thought to himself but kept his mouth shut. He smiled at Sierra. "Don't worry. We have a truce now."

Strife walked up towards Sonic, the Chaos Emerald back in his hands. Flame crossed her arms, scowled and walked after him. The crystal hedgehog looked at everyone with a frown as he handed the Chaos Emerald to Sonic. "Even if we are going to work together for awhile, we're only here to take out the king, understood?"

"Understood." Shadow growled. "But don't try any tricks on us, hedgehog. I have my eye on you."

Strife shrugged innocently. "So be it."

Flame growled and turned her back to the crew, still not liking the idea that she had to work with them. "I don't think the moon will be rising anytime tonight. I'm going to go back and pick up Fengari."

"Flame…!" Strife started to say but the girl vanished into the darkness. Strife rolled his eyes and turned to the others again as they glared at him suspiciously.

"Let's set up camp," Katherine finally sighed, turning around. Everyone gathered their tents and threw them out on the grassy plains. Strife, Sonic, and Shadow went back into the forest and gathered firewood while the others helped Amy and Cream with dinner.

As soon as the boys returned with firewood, Flame appeared out of thin air with a sky blue wolf standing next to her.

Everyone turned to the newcomers with surprised looks on their faces while Strife walked over to the two with his arms outstretched. "Flame! Fengari! Good to have you two back!"

"Strife!" The wolf whose name had to be Fengari nodded, dipping his head and showing the top of his cowboy hat. "It's good to see that you're still alive."

"Let us both be thankful the moon is not out tonight, am I right?"

Both Flame and Fengari nodded.

Everyone else looked at each other with confused looks about their behavior but shrugged and rubbed it off, they've seen weirder.

The crew worked on setting up the rest of the campsite until Amy called out to them. "Come on, everyone! It's time to eat!"

The entire team walked over and sat on logs or rocks they had pulled up. Amy and Cream used the wooden bowls they had and the extras they had brought along too to feed everyone. The meal tasted amazing as always (although Sonic was secretly wishing for something more than soup everyday) and when everyone was done, they decided to go to bed as soon as possible, since they were supposed to reach the castle tomorrow.

"Who's going to take watch though?" Sonic asked.

"Oh yeah…" Silver muttered. "I can take it."

"No, no, Silver, let me!" Katherine said, standing up and looking at the group boldly. "It's my turn anyways!"

"You need your rest too, Katherine." Shadow said to her.

Katherine gave him an annoyed look.

"Let us take watch." Fengari suddenly said. Everyone glanced over at the sky blue wolf as he stood up and straightened his cowboy hat. "It's the least we can do since it's our fault we tried to kill the blue hedgehog... I mean Sonic. Besides, we don't sleep much anyways."

"Except Flame," Strife muttered and got wacked on the side of the head by Flame.

"Well I enjoy having my beauty sleep." Flame scoffed, crossing her arms and looking away from the crystal hedgehog while he rolled his eyes.

"Well…" Shadow said slowly. He glanced at the others with a frown. "Can we trust them?"

Everyone looked thoughtfully at the group before them and the team stared back at them. From the short time Sonic had know the three of them, they seemed to take the things they said to heart… but that didn't help make him trust them at all, besides, they _did_ try to kill him.

Fengari frowned, seeming to sense their uneasiness about his team. "Please, let us watch. All of you are going to need your rest. Nothing bad will happen, I promise."

After a quick glance at her brother, Katherine sighed and shook her head slowly. "No funny business, you hear me? If I find anyone dead in the morning I will kill all three of you."

Flame smirked. "No promises."

Sierra pointed at Flame. "No one. Understood?"

Flame blinked and glanced at Sierra before nodding. "Fine."

Everyone turned and left Team Moon to guarding, even though the entire group knew they would not be sleeping well tonight with _them_ on guard duty. Before Sonic went into his tent however, he felt a hand stop him and glanced back to see Sierra.

"Sonic…?" She asked, releasing her grip on his hand and stood up straight, looking at the ground bashfully. "Can… can I talk to you?"

"Sure, what's up?" Sonic turned to her.

There was a moment of silence and Sierra looked at him. "Please don't leave."

"What? Why?"

Sierra looked at the ground again. "It's just that… over the past few days I've relied on you always being around to keep us safe. If you're not around how well is this team going to stay intact? I doubt the knights will want me around for long since I'm from the cowboy's side and we're sworn enemies, and I'm almost positive Team Moon isn't going to keep peace and besides that…"

Sierra became silent and Sonic didn't know what to say. It was true, he realized. The only reason this entire team was together was because of him. Team Moon would've probably been destroyed by the knights or visa versa. Sierra defiantly wouldn't be in the group when they first met because she was a Cowboy.

"But… it's not only that but… _I_ need you too." Sierra muttered. Her face turned a shade of red from embarrassment. "You've always made me feel safer and if it wasn't for you, I don't think I would've had the guts to face Flame today in battle. So please… please Sonic, don't go. I know your friends need you but this team needs you too."

Sonic said nothing, thinking over what she had said. Sierra looked at the ground. "But… if you must leave… I will try to understand…"

The blue hedgehog smiled and took a step towards her, taking her hand into his. Sierra's eyes widened and she took a nervous step back. Sonic took her hand and pulled the Chaos Emerald out of his quills and placed it in Sierra's hand. "Well then, if that's what you want then I'll stay."

Sierra's eyes watered. "Thank you Sonic."

"Hey, it's no problem." Sonic gave her a thumbs up with his other hand. "Take good care of that Emerald though, we don't want to lose it! It's more helpful than just being able to take me home!"

Sierra nodded. "Alright! I will guard it with my life, promise."

Sonic smiled and Sierra smiled back before both turned and went towards their tents. Sonic looked at the sky with a sigh before he went inside his tent. _It looks like you guys will have to hold it off on your own for awhile longer… good luck._ He thought to himself quietly.

Flame watched him go into his tent and rolled her eyes. "Well, that was a cute couple moment right there."

Strife glanced at her, his crystalline helmet sitting next to him. "Are you trying to imply something?"

"Of course not!" Flame gave him a funny look.

Fengari said nothing as he pulled the rim of his cowboy hat over his eyes. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the rulebook slowly and silently from his vest.

"Are you sure?" Strife asked.

"Positive!"

"Hmmm… sure…"

"Strife! Oh, whatever, you're it!" Flame rubbed the top of his head, messing up the fur on his head and disappeared into the darkness.

Strife grumbled something as he fixed his fur and glared at Fengari. "Was that…?"

"Not in the rulebook." Fengari shrugged.

"It is on Flame!" Strife jumped to his feet and vanished.

Fengari rolled his eyes and kept a close eye on the sleeping the camp for Flame and Strife for the rest of the night.

**Me *sigh of relief* "Good… there's the story. Please review and I'll see you when the next chapter comes around and please do leave a review, nothing makes me smile better then someone reviewing- even if they're a critic."**

**Xsus "Can I get some ice cream?"**

**Me "No. That's the **_**last**_** thing you need to have."**

**Xsus *pouts* "Aw… why can't it be the first thing I need to have?"**

**Me "Do you want to be shocked by a sleepless Zap?"**

**Xsus *pouts even more* "Can I at least wear his hat?"**

**Me *smirks* "Go ahead."**

**Xsus "Yay!" *runs out of the room***


	9. Chapter 9

**Katherine *leans back in her chair* "So… what do you guys want to do today?"**

**Zap "Find the non-reviewers and shock them with spoons, minus UnknownFollower that reviewer told us they couldn't review so that reviewer will go off easy… for now."**

**Shadow "I think the last thing we need is to show any violence in a situation like not reviewing, Zap."**

**Zap *grumbles something under his breath***

**Windy "Well… we can talk more about this later. Let's post up the next chapter for BlackSandHeart while she's away. Okay, so this chapter was brought to you by the reviewers: BlackStormNomad, Strife the Dark 152, Guest (now known as Amicus), Maraya Prower, and Chaosthehedgehog! Thanks to those reviewers, this chapter came out!"**

**Xsus *applauds excitedly while jumping up and down***

**BlackStormNomad= TWIN NAME PAL! :D …yeah… I think we will lol. Anyways, glad you liked the chapter, those three assassins are really fun to write about! Hope you're enjoying reading about them! Anyways… summer homework? DISLIKE!  
Katherine *pulls out sword* "Aero, **_**IT IS ON**_** evil little brother!"  
Shadow *face palms*  
Windy *glares at you* "You just **_**had**_** to leave the multi-dimensional transport keys lying around didn't you?"  
Katherine *waves a hand at Windy* "Don't be harsh on her. I'll knock out this creepy stalker vampire anyways and we'll never have to worry about the stalker again!"  
Shadow *sighs* "I'll help."  
Xsus "Kelly? She sounds like a nicely funny Echidna! ^^"**

**Strife the Dark 152= Flame gets to talk to you again:  
Flame *face turns red* "No, I- I- I gah! Fine…"  
Sierra *grins* "Someone has a crush…"  
Flame *swats Sierra and glares at her* "ANYWAYS, thanks for the review. The author is thrilled over here that she got Strife and Fengari right and Fengari… do I want to know what you're writing in the rulebook with your cowboy hat on?"**

**Chaosthehedgehog= I PMed (haha I made up a word!) you about it but idk if you ever got it so I'll give it to you again although if you still don't want to get on, I understand… sadly and yes, the info on Chaos is very helpful but how was he created? Jw… anyways here's what I wrote for you:  
1. Yes you can change your penname. Go to your account, then settings, and from there scroll down you'll see info on your account (such as penname and password) and next to your penname there should be the word "edit" click on that and you should change it.  
2. After a search for your original penname in FanFic, I found some other person named Chaos the hedgehog… but he hasn't been on in awhile from what I see in his stories…  
I got an idea though: you could put the words of your penname together maybe it could let you do that… hope that makes sense.**

**Amicus= Cool name where did you get it? And does this mean you're going to get an account soon? *fist pumps and grins with excitement* Yes! PM me when you do! So yeah, Sonic probably will get migraines because he's obviously falling for the biggest bad girl in his home dimension- sad lol.  
Flame *bows dramatically* "Glad to see someone takes interest in my team and I."  
Katherine "Can it, Follower of Darkness."  
Flame *glares* "Light Giver."  
*Both lift up their fists threateningly*  
Xsus *running around in circles thanks to a sugar high and giggling at the top of his lungs* "I GOTTA **_**WAFFLE **_**CONE PEOPLE!"  
Xerius *face palms***

**Maraya Prower= Zap *dark grin* "See Windy? I told you I'd get a fanclub. Now I'm gaining ground on the favorite OC list too."  
Windy *rolls her eyes* "Yeah yeah..."  
Xsus *pales* "A-a Skunk? Oh! Okay! Those things are cute! We should give them a hug and a cookie! That is if you get them not to spray you! :D"**

**DISCLAIMER= **_**Strife and Fengari belong to Strife the Dark 152 and are from the story: Sonic the Hedgehog: the Darkness Incarnate (loving the story here, so you should read it!)**_**. SEGA owns practically everything on here but SEGA ****doesn't**** own the Dimension Jumpers, the land of Darrius, and the ideas that put this story together. Now, LET'S END NAZO'S REIGN! …hopefully.**

**Chapter Nine=**

"There it is people…" Katherine said quietly. They hid behind a large rock that looked suspiciously like a large dragon. The crew peaked around the rock to see a giant castle. However, from out here the only thing that could be seen was the giant stone wall and a tall stone tower that looked like it was in the middle of the four walls, besides that, no one could see into the castle.

Six watchtowers stood around the outer part of the large wall. Sonic investigated the castle with a frown and looked up at the dark, stormy sky above them, which made it impossible to tell what time of day it was.

"Alright," Katherine turned around and sat on the ground she picked up a stick and drew a sad square on the ground with some dots inside the square.

"What's that?" Amy asked pointing towards a circle Katherine drew outside of the square.

"That's the rock we're hiding behind." Katherine muttered.

"That's a sad rock." Flame said seriously.

"Then _you_ draw it." Katherine said, handing the stick to Flame, who took the stick and looked at it with a frown.

"Like I know what the plan is."

Shadow the hedgehog reached out for the stick. "Give me that."

Flame lifted her hands innocently as Shadow took the stick, bent down, and drew quick sketches of the watchtowers. "Here's the plan, we need to go to the West Watchtower where Katherine and mine's friend Tikal is. She always has the door opened for us." He drew a circle around the watchtower in the middle on the far left side of the square.

Sonic watched Shadow draw in the dust and frowned, he remembered Shadow saying something about him and Katherine having a plan since this morning but he didn't expect Shadow to be _this_ prepared.

It had only taken them at least three hours or so to get to this spot behind the rock, however, with the dark clouds above it made Sonic unsure if it was day or night when they got up in the first place.

"Team Moon, you guys take out the guards at the watchtower while the rest of us go in." Shadow explained. "As soon as you take out the guards in that watchtower, take out the ones in neighboring towers in case we need another escape route."

Fengari nodded. "Leave it to us." Flame and Strife nodded in agreement after glancing at Fengari. Sonic frowned, he remembered the promise Fengari made last night and was truthfully surprised to wake up in the morning in general and was twice as surprised to see that he didn't wake up with anyone trying to kill him._ I guess Team Moon isn't so bad after all…_ Sonic thought to himself as he looked over at the team.

"Alright, the rest of us go in. Windy, Rouge, Cream, and Amy, you four guard the watchtower's entrance and exit from any guards to guarantee that way out for an escape if we need to use it."

Windy nodded. "Leave it to us."

"Guard duty," Rouge said with distaste. "Oh joy."

Shadow continued, ignoring Rouge. "Zap will be our eye in the sky. Once Team Moon takes out the enemies at the Western Watchtower, he'll go up and guard the tower to make sure everything runs smoothly and warn us with lightning strikes if things go badly."

Zap nodded, saying nothing for once.

"Katherine, Blaze, and Sierra. You guys get the most difficult job but I know the three of you can do it. Your job is to distract the guards in the castle and have them chase you so my team can move in." Shadow continued.

"Who's on your team?" Sonic asked.

"You, Silver, and myself. We're going after Nazo to dethrone him." Shadow smirked as he erased the plans with his hands and stood up, wiping the dust off his gloves. "Is that clear for everyone?"

"Hang on, you can't just kill a King in his own castle, am I right?" Strife asked Shadow.

"Do you have a better plan then?" Katherine asked him coldly.

Strife said nothing, he knew Nazo _never_ came outside of his castle to even visit his subjects. It looked like to get rid of Nazo they would have to go inside after all.

"What do we do when my team's done with their job?" Flame asked.

"Sit still and wait for more orders from me." Zap said to her.

Flame scowled, crossing her arms.

"Alright, everyone. I'll lead the way to the Western Watchtower and the rest of you follow and then you go do your assigned missions." Shadow explained. He peaked out around the rock and led the group silently across the plain towards the castle. They ducked out of a beam of light switched on as large drops of rain fell from the sky.

"Light Beams? When were these things invented?" Sonic whispered to Silver as the two pressed their backs hard against the wall as the beam moved passed in front of them by mere inches.

"Nazo copied some things from the Cowboys, technology was one of them. How else do you think we got bullet proof swords?" Silver hissed back to him.

"Quiet Silver!" Katherine whispered, standing next to the white hedgehog. She glanced up at the beam of light. "I don't want to get found out just yet." She turned to Silver and sighed. "Stop giving me that look."

Silver smiled as Shadow, with his back against the wall, led the team around the large wall until they were at the western side. Sonic, who was standing next to Sierra, who stood next to Shadow, watched the ebony hedgehog stop before a wooden door and knocked on it quietly three times.

There was the sound of banging dishes inside and Shadow glanced at a beam of light slowly moving towards the group. The door suddenly opened. "Come in!" A quiet voice whispered. The entire team moved in and barely avoided the search beam as the person with the quiet voice closed the door quietly. She turned to them and quickly gave Katherine a hug. "I cannot believe you're okay!" She gasped as she pulled away. She clapped her hands twice and a torch lit itself.

"Oh that's cool, who invented that?" Sonic asked.

"Tails," The owner of the quiet voice, who Sonic recognized as Tikal in the dim light, said. She looked at Sonic with dark eyes and her Echidna hair was pulled back behind. She wore simple maids' clothes and shook her head. "I can't believe he still works for Nazo."

"Tikal?" Sonic cocked his head.

"Do I know you?"

"No, he doesn't, not in this world." Katherine said, turning to Tikal. "Look, I can't explain everything but we're here to take out Nazo."

Tikal gasped. "Already? And where did this team come from?"

"I can't explain, Tikal, please!" Katherine said. "Keep yourself safe and stay far away from this spot, understood?"

Tikal bowed her head. "Understood. Stay safe Katherine, friends. Don't get yourself killed. Without you I don't think anyone will ever get in again to stop Nazo."

Katherine gave her another hug and Tikal returned it before picking up a wooden bucket and walking out another door on the other end of the room, quietly closing the door behind her.

Everyone turned to each other for what might've been the last time. Shadow turned to Team Moon. "You first."

Strife nodded and led his team outside going back out the way they came, they closed the door silently behind them and after a pause, Zap gave Windy a hug before leaving the room, following Team Moon to position himself as the "eye in the sky".

There was a long moment and then Katherine spoke next. "Take care everyone. Come on team!" Katherine called and Blaze and Sierra followed her as Katherine walked out the door Tikal left moments earlier. Before walking out the door though, Sierra glanced back and gave a small smile to Sonic, who returned the smile.

Silver shook his head as soon as they were gone. "I hope they'll stay safe."

"So do I…" Shadow muttered and he turned to Windy, Amy, Cream, and Rouge. "Are you ready? Keep this place safe from anyone other than ourselves. If you lose ground here, find a way to let us know."

Windy nodded.

"Come on," Shadow turned and opened the door Katherine went through and was followed by Silver and Sonic. The team walked outside and was instantly drenched in the pouring rain. Sonic was grateful for his cowboy hat so he could actually see without rain falling into his eyes. Silver and Shadow put their hands over their eyes and scanned the area until they saw one of the tall three towers.

"There's the towers, come on!" Silver said. He started running towards the towers and Shadow and Sonic followed him after a pause, the three heading for the tower in the middle.

-XXXXXXXX-

Strife peaked over the rim of the watchtower. With his crystalline helmet on, he could see through two slits in his helmet and he saw two Mobian guards- in their usual _metal_ armor- looking the wrong direction. He disappeared into the darkness and hopped onto the watchtower's stone flooring. He moved invisibly up to the guards and as quick as a flash, reappeared and smashed the guard's head into the search light. He smirked as the guard fell to the ground with a groan, unconscious.

The other guard spun around in surprise as Strife stood tall and turned to the other guard as he drew his sword and jumped at him. Strife drew his crystal cutlass out of thin air and blocked the guard's strikes but couldn't manage to hit his enemy back.

Suddenly, Fengari dropped down from the roof of the watchtower with his Fangs of the Moon gleaming in the watchtower's searching light. He dropped down on top of the guard and smashed him into the ground, knocking him also unconscious.

Fengari and Strife grinned at each other as Flame appeared on the other side of the squared room with a scowl. "Aw, come on guys! You left nothing for me!"

"Sorry, Flame, better luck next time." Strife smirked.

Flame rolled her eyes. "I can't believe you people." She muttered as a figure hopped over the edge, flipped and landed on the ground. The three turned towards him, expecting him to be another guard but lowered their weapons when they saw it was just Zap.

"Good work," The golden colored cat commented as he walked up to the searchlight. "With this thing it'll be easy to communicate with the others instead of using lightning."

Flame rolled her eyes. "You're welcome."

Zap glared at her. "Just secure the other search towers."

Flame shrugged and disappeared into the darkness along with Strife. Fengari turned and hopped over the edge of the watchtower and the three headed towards the next watchtower to repeat the process they made last time.

Zap watched them go with a frown until he heard a dark voice laugh behind him. "Well, it looks like the two of us can fight over who's the smarter one once again."

Zap's eyes narrowed and he glanced back at a two tailed fox sitting on the rim of the watchtower, watching Zap with amused blue eyes. "Hello Tails…" Zap smirked. "Ready for a rematch?"

-XXXXXXXX-

Katherine ran for her dear life through the empty streets of the city. She wondered where the people were but didn't have time to stop and knock on a door, asking questions. She glanced back and saw at least thirty guards chasing her and could only hope the same went for Sierra and Blaze so Sonic, Shadow, and Silver could get in and take out Nazo.

"Get back here!" One of the guards yelled behind her.

Katherine sighed to herself as she slid on the slowly forming puddles cobblestone ground and ran forward again down a different street. The guards slid past her and were then in purist once again a moment later. She secretly thanked Blaze's brilliance on catching the bottom part of the castle on fire to lure the guards out, it obviously did the trick.

Another sharp turn and… bam! Katherine smacked into Sierra and both fell backwards onto the ground with a splash as the rain fell down on them. "Sierra!" Katherine yelled at her. She peaked behind Sierra and saw the guards chasing her quickly catching up.

"I'm sorry, Katherine!" Sierra said. "I didn't know…!"

"Doesn't matter, come on!" Katherine yanked Sierra to her feet and the two girls ran down a small alleyway, jumping over a wooden fence that was in their way at the end of the alleyway and continuing down the road until… bam! They ran into Blaze.

"Oh, there you are Blaze!" Sierra muttered as she rubbed her head from the collision.

Blaze the cat jumped to her feet. "Come on! The longer we sit here the easier it is for them to catch up!" The other two cats then scrambled to their feet, splashing water on themselves and each other as they got up and then started running.

Sierra glanced up at the storm above them. "It's raining hard…!"

Katherine nodded. "It's starting to flood down here and it's probably filling up the poor people's homes in here. They're not allowed to leave… it must be a terrible life living here, barely surviving."

Sierra frowned. "I hope Sonic and the other hedgehogs stop him."

"Me too, Sierra. Me too." Katherine said as they took a right turn, losing the gaining guards once again.

-XXXXXXXX-

Windy, Amy, Cream, and Rouge hid on the top shelf in the small kitchen they came in from thanks to Tikal letting them in. They looked towards the door that led into the castle grounds, the one Katherine and Shadow's teams went out of. They had heard voices, unfamiliar ones, outside the door and hid so they could surprise attack their enemy.

Windy pushed a large bag of flour out of her way so she had a better chance on jumping down onto her enemy.

"Are you sure you heard something?" Amy whispered to Rouge.

Rouge twitched her ears and shook her head. "I swear I heard something!" She whispered back.

They became quiet and Windy was about to climb down the shelf when the door flew open. An Echidna walked in and it defiantly _wasn't_ Tikal. She had dark eyes and her hair was pulled even farther back then Tikal's. She wore strange mix of, Egyptian and Greek like clothes except she had linen pants on and a long sleeved linen shirt that stretched down like a long dress to her knees. She wore a gold circle right in the middle of her chest as part of the linen wrapped around like a belt at her upper stomach.

The Echidna looked around with a frown and Rouge let out a gasp. "That's Shade, the wife of King Nazo." She whispered to them. "Maybe if things go wrong today and we capture her we can get a ransom for her return! Then…"

Windy clasped her hand over Rouge's mouth, shutting the bat up.

Cream whimpered quietly. "She doesn't look nice…"

Amy put a finger to her lips as the Echidna walked around the room, inspecting everything in sight. She didn't look the least bit wet from coming in inside. Although, her sandal shoes splashed through the water slowly filling up the room, thanks to the rainfall.

"I got this…" Windy whispered and she slowly moved around the flour bag and many others on the top shelf in the shadows as Shade looked around.

Windy quietly pulled out her sword and then dropped down with a watery splash. She jumped at Shade but the Echidna was ready, pulling out a sword Windy didn't see at her side. The two slashed at each other and Shade swung low, making Windy force to jump and then splash again into the water. The two sliced and hacked at each other as Rouge glanced at the flour bags.

Rouge smirked when she saw the bags and watched the two girls fight for a moment longer. Then, she glanced at Amy and Cream, who noticed Rouge looking at the flour bags. "Ladies, I have an idea…" Rouge said with a smirk.

-XXXXXXXX-

Shadow, Silver, and Sonic ran up the stairs as fast as they could towards the top floor. They knocked out only a few guards that were still there. Sonic was glad Shadow's plan so far was working and at this rate it would be easy to take out Nazo.

Another turn and they ran into a long hallway lined with red carpet where they saw someone standing on the other end, before a door. There were a total of three doors, one on Sonic's left and one on his right and one on the very end where the figure stood.

"Ah… so there you are blue hedgehog. It seems that Team Moon failed to follow my orders." The figure said in the shadows.

"Who are you? Show yourself!" Silver yelled.

A sudden flash of light appeared in the room and it lit up the figure's face, revealing it to be a blue, silver colored hedgehog wearing black armor. Shadow lifted a fist as soon as he saw the hedgehog. "Nazo!"

"That's _King_ Nazo to you, Shadow the hedgehog. You think you could just runaway with your sister from my guard training and get away with it?" Nazo the hedgehog said as he stood. The bright light became dimmer and dropped into Nazo's hands.

Sonic gasped when he realized that the light was coming from a dark blue Chaos Emerald. "That's another Chaos Emerald!" He whispered to the others.

Shadow smirked. "Let's go get it then."

Nazo lifted a fist. "I will kill all of you before you have the chance to kill me."

"Is that so?" Shadow sneered. "It looks like that's going to have to change."

Nazo jumped forward and placed his hands together. A beam of energy flew out and towards them as the three hedgehogs dived out of the way. Shadow jumped to his feet, pulled out his sword and flew towards Nazo at full speed.

Nazo pulled out a gleaming white sword, but it didn't glow with friendly light like Katherine's sword did, this white light was harsh and unforgiving. Shadow and Nazo clashed swords together, creating sparks that flew into the air.

Sonic jumped to his feet and turned to Silver. "We have to get that Chaos Emerald!"

"What about Shadow?" Silver asked.

"He can handle himself just fine."

Silver nodded and both hedgehogs jumped forward.

Sonic raced forward using his full speed to tackle Nazo and cause the Chaos Emerald to fly through the air as Shadow swung his sword at air. Silver used his telekinesis to carry the emerald towards him while Nazo watched.

"No!" Nazo cried.

"It's mine!" Silver grinned as the emerald floated down, into his hands. "The Chaos Emerald belongs to me now!"

Nazo lunged at Silver but Silver was yanked out of the way as Shadow Chaos Controlled next to him and Chaos Controlled away again. Nazo crashed into the wall and turned to the three hedgehogs as they lifted their swords.

"It ends here, Nazo." Shadow said to the hedgehog.

Nazo dived out of the way as they all slashed downwards and ran through the door he was once standing next to. Sonic jumped forward and ran through the door without a second thought.

"Sonic! Stop!" Silver called, reaching out with one hand and the Chaos Emerald in his other hand.

"Come on!" Shadow growled and yanked the white hedgehog after him as he ran through the door… but stopped next to Sonic as they saw Nazo lifting up the purple Chaos Emerald. Before them was a balcony with a glass ball on it, a fireplace to their left and a bed to their right. Pictures of different people were all over the walls.

"The line ends here, hedgehogs!" Nazo hissed as he glowed thanks to the emerald's power.

"He's going to be unstoppable if we don't get that Chaos Emerald!" Sonic cried to the others.

"Just how many of these blasted emeralds are there?" Shadow growled to Sonic.

"Oh, just seven." Sonic shrugged.

Shadow said nothing as he glared at Nazo. Nazo lifted up the emerald for them to see as his body glowed with power. "With this emerald, I am truly unstoppable!"

Sonic had a bad feeling that Nazo was right.

**Katherine "Oooo cliffy!"**

**Windy "You know, they're fun to write but terrible when it comes to reading."**

**Xerius **_**"I hate it when authors do that."**_

**Xsus "Maybe we should talk to BlackSandHeart about cliffhangers… she did it all the time in Day of the Dead."**

**Zap *nods slowly* "True true, but I doubt she'll stop doing them. Alright **_**you**_** reader should review before I ****do**** come after you with **_**shocking **_**metal spoons! While you're at it, give us "OCs"- and Shadow- an idea of what to do today."**

**Windy "Wow, you're almost as bad as Flame today."**

**Flame *somewhere downstairs* "I heard that!"**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello people! Welcome to chapter… what is this… ten! Wow, ten chapters already! Anyways, this chapter was brought to you by…**

**Windy *somewhere outside* "HEADS UP!"**

**Me *ducks as a stick of dynamite flies over my head from the open window and flies out the door to my room. Something explodes downstairs* "WINDY!"**

**Windy "At least I warned you! It was entirely Flame, Sierra, and Katherine's fault!"**

**Katherine "Was not!"**

**Me *grumbles something and shakes head in disbelief* "Anyways, thanks to BlackStormNomad, Maraya Prower, Strife the Dark 152, Chaosthehedgehog, and Amicus for reviewing!"**

**BlackStormNomad= Twin name buddy! Gah summer homework, it sounds similar to a swear word *annoyed look*. A senior huh? Cool! Guess that does explain the piles of homework *another annoyed look*.  
Katherine *grumbles* "I'm a fighter, not an artist. I don't know how to draw squat."  
Zap "Robyn don't kill me because I'm about to kick your brother's trash in this chapter."  
Windy "What? No…"  
Zap "Shhh!"  
Katherine *growls and twirls sword in hand* "Oh please, Aero! You can't fight something from another **_**dimension**_** and expect to win!"  
Shadow *sighs*  
Xsus "Please, please, please, please, please let me meet her! :D Once you get her she's all yours, Mathius!" *winks for good measure***

**Maraya Prower= MARAYA! You're back! I was wondering where you went!  
Hmm… Tails vs Zap… back in Sonic's home dimension I bet you they'll settle their differences with a round of Jeopardy XD or playing concentration 64 with prime numbers: Zap "11!" Tails "2!". Also, I'm glad you liked the screwed up ideas of darkness and light- wait- Good and bad lol sorry too many different sides. Although, I was just thinking about that and realized something quite important: is there really good and bad if both sides fight to kill each other ruthlessly? It's an interesting point that makes me wonder… hmm… its making me think about it again…**

**Strife the Dark 152= Sierra and Flame will make their points:  
Sierra *rolls her eyes* "Please! We all know that if the real me was in this world then I'd play things out like a simple person. I'd blow the entire castle up! Screw the innocent lives!"  
Flame *raises eyebrow and shakes head slowly* "Anyways, Fengari, you took out that one guard while I was just sitting around! Our fight scene comes up later!"  
Me "Are you two done?"  
Flame and Sierra "No!"  
Me *backs away slowly***

**Chaosthehedgehog= Aw… still maybe you can try again someday. Either way it's good your still reviewing so I know you didn't disappear off the face of the earth and nice pun it made me laugh haha- also there's a surprise for you at the end of the chapter. I got another question about Chaos though: What's his relationship with his family? Does he get along well with Katherine and Shadow? With Maria it seems obvious that he gets along with her (but hey, who can't get along with Maria?).**

**Amicus= Latin? I **_**love**_** Latin! I had to learn it for a half year… but it was way back in 7****th**** grade so I forgot most of it- lol. When you get an account it'll be totally awesome! So here's your next chapter so don't fear for now… also… your capture the flag idea…? I hope it's explaining the dynamite explosions outside…**

**Disclaimer= **_**Strife the Dark 152 owns Fengari and Strife and are in the story: "Sonic the hedgehog: the Darkness Incarnate"**_**. I own the Dimension Jumpers, the plot, and the Story idea. SEGA owns everything else. **

**Chapter Ten=**

"Come on, Tails! Is that the best you've got?" Zap growled as he and Tails stood in front of each other, each holding their own gleaming sword. The double tailed fox however, was panting, obviously not used to such intense swordplay.

The fox sneered and spun his tails, lifting himself into the air. "No, it's not the best I have… this is!" With that, Tails pulled out a small remote and lifted it into the air proudly while Zap raised an eyebrow. "With this thing I can control the fate of this battle!"

"Whatever!" Zap said, confused but also quite annoyed. "Like a small box is going to change the way this fight is going."

"Yes it will, because you just lost… the fight!" The fox said as he pressed one of the many buttons on the remote and pointed it to Zap. The box hummed and then shot out a small beam of red energy. Zap lifted his sword to deflect and it worked, but the force of it sent him rocketing out of watchtower and crashing into the ground, he slid to a stop a good hundred yards or so away from the watchtower as Tails laughed evilly.

Zap struggled to push himself off and saw the members of Team Moon running towards him. Fengari reached him first. "Zap! Is everything okay?"

"Fine." Zap growled. "I just got thrown out of a watchtower by a kid with a fancy remote, I'm totally fine."

Flame rolled her eyes. "Looks like someone got thrown out of the wrong side of the watchtower."

Strife laughed while Zap glared at them.

Tails let out another evil laugh as he looked down at the crew. "Now to secure the other towers!" He pressed another button on his remote and all six watchtowers started glowing red and Zap cursed, realizing he conjured up a force field with that little remote. There was no way into the watchtowers now from the outside.

Tails spun his tails and flew away, back into the depths of the castle and away from the small group.

"At least Windy, Amy, Cream, and Rouge have the tower guarded on the inside." Strife said hopefully.

Suddenly, the door they had walked in with the help of Tikal flew open and out flew Amy and Cream. The girls slid on the ground to a stop next to a startled Flame and Amy looked over at Zap with a frown. "Well that wasn't very nice."

"She threw us out!" Cream added, the look on her face was stunned.

Windy then got tossed out next and when she slid to a stop, she jumped to her feet and spun around as Rouge flew out the door with her batwings stretched out as far as they could go for a better glide. She had a sword in her arms and glanced back nervously at the entrance of the door as Shade the Echidna stood in front of it, waving a fist. "And don't come back!" With that, she slammed the door close.

"Get back here! You can't just shut us out!" Windy yelled at the door.

"What just happened?" Zap demanded to her.

Amy looked embarrassed and rubbed the back of her head. "Well…"

_FLASHBACK=_

_Shade and Windy sliced and hacked at each other as they moved across the room until Windy made one clear swing and knocked Shade's sword out of her hand. They watched as the sword spun in the air and splashed in the water not too far away from Shade._

_Shade, however, seemed to not worry about her sword because she tackled Windy and the two of them rolled around on the ground as it filled up with water. Shade managed to get on top and shoved Windy's head underwater, refusing to let her out to breathe._

_"Miss Windy!" Cream cried as Rouge pulled the bag of flour over to herself. She ripped open the top of the bag and then threw it over the edge where it crashed onto Shade in an explosion of white powder that turned hard, thanks to the water._

_Shade stumbled off Windy, trying to wipe off the flour as Windy sat up, sucking in a lungful of air and then coughing hard. Amy and Cream jumped off the top shelf and ran to her side. "Are you okay?" Amy demanded to her._

_"Fine, quick, we need to get her while she's distracted!" Windy said, pointing to Shade who ducked underwater to get the flour off of her face._

_However, it was too late as Shade successfully got the flour off of her face and was able to fight once again. The four girls went back into battle while Rouge's eyes caught onto something shiny in the watery ground. _

_She floated over to it and pulled Shade's sword out of the water. With a frown, Rouge found that there was something shoved into the hilt of the sword and after a bit of pulling, she pulled an emerald out in her hands._

_Rouge's eyes glowed in the light of the emerald. "Hello gorgeous…" She whispered to the emerald._

"_ROUGE!" A struggled voice cried._

_Rouge glanced over just in time to see Cream and Amy being thrown out of the small kitchen room in the watchtower. Shade reached down and picked up Windy and was about to throw her out too. Knowing that she couldn't stand head on with Shade for long, Rouge picked up the emerald and sword and quickly flew out as Windy got tossed out._

_The bat landed next to Zap, Team Moon, Amy, Cream, and Windy and all of them looked back to Shade, who waved a fist into the air angrily. "And don't come back!"_

_END OF FLASHBACK_

"Well… that explains a lot." Zap said as Rouge handed him the light blue emerald. "You think this is one of those… what was it… Chaos Emeralds Sonic was talking about?"

Windy shrugged, frowning and looking at the castle. "Who knows and we might never know. The others are still trapped inside!"

Everyone gasped as the realization hit them.

"We have to warn the others!" Cream cried desperately as lightning flashed across the sky, creating a thundering boom and the rain fell even harder, if it was possible.

Zap stood up. "I'll send a signal and let them know…" He lifted a hand up in the air and concentrated, and then lightning flashed down from the sky.

-XXXXXXXX-

Silver the hedgehog glanced passed Nazo as he glowed with the power of the purple Chaos Emerald. He gasped when he saw the familiar lightning strikes spelling out the danger they were now in with the watchtowers gone. "Shadow!" Silver gasped. "The lightning!"

Shadow saw the lightning while Nazo let out an evil laugh and cursed under his breath. "They have access to the watchtower again! We're trapped here for good if we don't leave anytime soon!"

Sonic frowned. "Wait, are you calling off the mission?"

"We have too. We'll be trapped if we do!" Shadow growled. "I hate the idea of letting Nazo live for another day as much as any sane, living being but we'll be dead if we don't get out of here!"

Nazo glanced at them evilly. "Are you ready to surrender?"

"Never!" Sonic lifted a fist. He turned to Shadow and looked thoughtful. "We can Chaos Control out of here."

Shadow nodded. "Alright… go."

"Chaos…!" Sonic lifted the emerald into the air and Nazo's eyes narrowed.

"Not on my watch!" Nazo lunged at them and covered the distance across the floor with incredible speed. He threw his sword downward to slice Sonic in half and the blue hedgehog jumped backwards, barely avoiding the attack and calling off Chaos Control.

Nazo's sword sliced into the ground and got wedged between the stone cracks in the ground. Angered, and confused, Nazo started struggling to pull his sword out of the ground while the three hedgehogs saw their chance to escape.

"To the balcony!" Silver cried and the three hedgehogs ran for their dear lives towards the balcony. As they reached the edge, Nazo managed to pull out his sword and charge at them again.

"No time to Chaos Control! Everyone jump!" Sonic yelped.

Without thinking twice or even bothering to add common sense into the mixture, the three hedgehogs turned and jumped off the balcony railing. While jumping though, Silver's boot hit the glass ball that sat on the very rim of it and it started to roll off the edge.

"No!" Nazo cried and managed to grab it at the last second as Sonic, Shadow, and Silver the hedgehog fell towards the ground far below.

"Quick Sonic! Use Chaos Control before we all get turned into pancakes!" Silver cried as they fell closer towards the ground.

"Chaos…!" Sonic held up the dark blue emerald they had gotten from Nazo. The blue blur closed his eyes for better concentration.

Nazo glared down at them and threw his sword downwards after them. Shadow glanced upwards and saw the sword spinning towards them, faster than they were falling. Its target was straight at Shadow.

"There's a falling sword, you better hurry Sonic!" Shadow growled.

"The ground!" Silver yelped, pointing at it as they got even closer.

"…CONTROL!" Sonic cried as they were three feet above the ground and the sword less than a foot from being impaled in Shadow's back. They disappeared in a bright light and reappeared three feet above the air behind the dragon rock they had cleverly hid behind awhile ago before crashing with a muddy splash onto the ground.

"Talk about cutting it close!" Silver grumbled as he pushed himself out of the mud.

"Don't _ever_ do that again!" Shadow growled at the blue blur as he wiped mud off of his fur.

Sonic laughed. "At least I got us out of there, right?"

"You're safe!" Amy cried and she ran up to the three hedgehogs. Sonic glanced back and sighed in relief when he saw the others coming towards them.

"Are you okay? Is Nazo defeated?" Cream asked nervously.

Shadow shook his head. "We had to get out of there fast or else the guard's would have come up and gotten us before we could've gotten away."

Cream lowered her head sadly.

Sonic looked around and frowned when he realized someone, or actually more than that, was still missing. He frowned and then glanced over towards Zap and Windy. "Hey… where's Sierra? Katherine and Blaze too. Where are they?"

Windy lowered her head. "They haven't made it out yet… and I don't think they're going to."

Sonic felt his heart stop beating, Shadow and Silver didn't look any better.

Flame's eyes narrowed and she looked at the castle, lost in thought. With a frown, and a quick plan, she started running towards the castle.

Strife watched her go. "Flame!" He called, drawing everyone's attention over to the retreating cat.

Flame looked back while she ran, grinned darkly, and then vanished.

"FLAME!" Strife called and started running towards the castle to be stopped by Fengari. The large wolf held Strife down and refused to let him go while the hedgehog struggled. "Let me go, Fengari! Now! I have to go help her!"

"And you could be killed!" Fengari barked at him.

"But you just let Flame get away!" Strife growled.

"She got away before I could see what she was planning. If her plans fail, then I don't want you there to get killed too!" Fengari growled.

"You say that like you don't believe she can do it!" Strife said, anger glowing in his green eyes.

"Then why do you want to go after her if you think she can do it?" Fengari growled at him and the hedgehog fell silent. Fengari let Strife go as the dark hedgehog glared at the castle angrily, not liking the situation they were in at all.

Sonic stared at the castle with a frown. _Please… not them. Let anyone but the four of them get captured and killed._

-XXXXXXXX-

Katherine led the way up the round stairs, her boots pounding on slippery cobblestone steps. Sierra and Blaze ran up after her, their boots smashing into the ground and creating splashes as they ran up the tower.

"Come on! We can't stop now!" Katherine panted, more to herself then to Sierra and Blaze.

Sierra gasped while running. "I… want… to stop!"

"The guards though!" Blaze gasped. "They'll get us if we stop!"

The echo of guards' boots and voices was the only thing that kept them running for their dear lives. It helped keep their adrenaline alive and made sure they continued up the stairs.

Another few turns and Katherine grinned when she saw the wooden door ahead. "There's the top!" She called back down to the other two girls. The three of them practically flew up the last steps before bursting out the door into the pouring rain.

Blaze and Sierra spun around while Katherine ran towards the edge and slammed the door shut. Sierra held the door in case any guards made it to the top while Blaze jammed the door with the knife that was normally used to help cut firewood.

Katherine slid to a stop when she reached the edge, her boots sliding on the wet surface. She stopped at the edge and looked around frantically, seeing that they were on top of the highest tower in the entire castle. There were no other close towers or houses that they could jump onto to continue their escape without falling to their deaths first. Lightning flashed as Katherine let out a strangled cry of terror.

"Katherine? What is it?" Sierra said as she ran up along with Blaze.

"We're trapped…"Katherine said quietly, her eyes growing big with shock. She sat down on her knees and stared out over the city with the rain falling on her face and rolling down it like tears, the adrenaline in her veins dying out quickly along with Sierra's and Blaze's.

Guards suddenly banged on the door and Sierra and Blaze glanced back in fear as the guards threw their weight on the door, tempting it to collapse under their pressure at any moment. Both girls looked at Katherine and the hope in all their eyes went out like a small candle flame being blown out.

"We're trapped…" Katherine whispered again and she put her head in her hands.

**Katherine "Oh no…"**

**Shadow *pulls knight's helmet off his face* "Hmm… we blew up the swimming pool with the dynamite. Do you think we should tell Xsus…?"**

**Chaos (Chaos belongs to Chaosthehedgehog) "Anything but!"**

**Katherine *sighs in disbelief* "What's with you boys?"**

**Zap *appears before them with a sparking stick of dynamite raised* "You're on my territory! GET OFF!"**

**Katherine, Shadow, Chaos *pale and run for their lives with Zap chasing them***

**Me *sighs* "Okay… that's **_**got**_** to stop. This Capture the Flag game is getting a little _too_ intense. Anyways, don't forget to review and I'll see you when the next chapter comes around! Later!"**


	11. Chapter 11

**Katherine "Oh cool! OC fight!"**

**Me "What?"**

**Katherine *Hands me a piece of paper* "See for yourself!"**

**Me *skims over paper* "Oh you have got to be kidding me. Xerius vs. Chase? Who gave you this paper?"**

**Katherine "Sierra."**

**Me *face palms* "Okay let's get the chapter up first *sighs*. Anyways this chapter was brought to you by: Chaosthehedgehog, Maraya Prower, BlackStormNomad, and Strife the Dark 152! Katherine…?"**

**Katherine *slow clap while looks annoyed that she has to do this***

**Chaosthehedgehog= **_**LUCKY!**_** I just started school last… I don't care anymore… school's school. Once you have one day of it you count the days till summer starts again. Hmmm… so Chaos has a kind of "love" relationship with Maria? Interesting… but Shadow and Katherine can't figure it out, right? Or is it just Shadow? Maybe you can give your story to me somehow (can you try PMing it to me?) so I can put it up and give the copyright straight up for you... if not though it's all good! So, Sonic Unleashed hasn't come out in the UK yet? I haven't played it yet… haha fail for me. So, you gave me a list of all his different forms but can you give me a good explanation on what all of them do and Chaos' appearance afterwards and what his personality like?**

**Maraya Prower= No, no, you make a good point. If that's the case, is there such thing as good or evil in the first place…? Hmm… interesting thought. Yeah, I bet that explains **_**why**_** Shadow does all the Chaos Control moves in all the games and not Sonic- lol. Anyways, yes. My "too intense" and your "slightly dead" are **_**quite**_** similar as I think about it.  
Zap *yelps in surprise as he gets side hug tackled*  
Flame *snickers* "My own fanclub huh? *shrugs* Eh… maybe later."  
Windy *smiles* "Someone did care about me drowning!"  
Zap *drops the stick of dynamite while grumbling***

**BlackStormNomad= Twin Name Buddy! XD Ehh… I just got a ton of homework today so I understand your pain- school, humph.  
Xsus *waves excitedly* "Bye Mathius! Hi Kelly! I'm… wait… you already know *giggles*. Nice to finally meet you too! So you like ice cream, huh?" *turns head sideways*.  
Katherine *smirks* "Very well." *both charge at each other*  
Xerius *walks in* **_**"Hello Shadow."  
**_**Shadow "Hang on, I'm making sure my sister doesn't get her head chopped off."  
Xerius **_**"By the very dark hedgehog over there?"  
**_**Shadow "Yes."  
Xerius **_**"…I don't want to know."**_

**Strife the Dark 152= Yep, finally made it to the FlamexStrife moments… should be a lot of fun. Especially in this chapter as Flame becomes a… dare devil.  
Sierra "Way to look on the bright side, Fengari! Oh, hello Xerius…"  
Xerius *rolls eyes as he walks in* **_**"Do I want to know what's going on here?"**_**  
Flame "What…? Calm down, Mr. Hedgehog. I haven't done anything bad… -yet."**

**DISCLAIMER= I own the plot, the Dimension Jumpers, **_**and**_** the world of Darrius. ****Strife and Fengari belong to Strife the Dark 152 and are in the story: Sonic the hedgehog: The Darkness Incarnate.**_**SEGA owns everything else.**_** Use of mine or Strife's characters without permission results in Zap shocking you with metal spoons and Strife blasting you to the next dimension. On that happy note: here's the next chapter!**

**Chapter Eleven=**

"There has to be _some_ way we can go in!" Silver said angrily. The crew hid behind the rock, watching the guards running around on the castle grounds, looking for them.

"There's no way! Even with Chaos Control it would be difficult. We could accidently warp ourselves right into a trap!" Zap growled angrily. He peaked behind the rock and watched a guard run towards them. He put a finger to his lips and the entire crew became silent until the guard passed. As soon as he was gone, Zap continued. "That place is also guarded by Tails!"

"Tails? The kitsune?"Sonic said, trying not to laugh. "How can Tails be a bad guy?"

Zap looked at the ground. "It… it was my fault. I was once a teacher to him but I expected too much out of the apprentice so he hates my guts. He found a new master- Nazo- and he treated him better so naturally Tails became bad."

"What about Flame?" Strife demanded. "What if we manage to get the others out and she doesn't know then gets captured?"

"We can't go in!" Zap snarled. "There's no way! Did I _not_ just say that?"

Sonic raised an eyebrow. Well this explained why Tails wasn't on the good guy side in this world.

Zap took a deep breath and sighed. "Sorry, but I wish there was. Katherine and Blaze both have been kind to me for the months we've traveled together. Sierra… she seemed like a nice soul and is the last person to deserve a fate like this. I bet Flame is the same but we can't help them."

Strife growled angrily and everyone else didn't look any better.

"We should leave." Windy said sadly after a moment of silence.

"I am _not_ leaving my sister or her friends behind!" Shadow growled at her.

Windy closed her eyes and looked away from Shadow as the ebony hedgehog growled angrily again.

"We'll stay for awhile longer… but we'll have to leave soon or the guards will get us." Zap said seriously. He stood, turned, and stared at the castle.

Sonic the hedgehog glanced into the rainy sky with a look of worry on his face. _Please… you guys… stay safe…_ he thought to himself.

-XXXXXXXX-

"We're trapped…" Katherine shook her head. She stood up, her pants soaked from sitting in the rain and she turned towards the door, which looked like it was about to burst open at any moment thanks to the pressure the guards on the other side put on it. She looked at the others girls and lowered her head sadly.

"It's been a pleasure serving you both." Sierra said sadly.

Blaze nodded and Katherine didn't even move.

Suddenly, someone appeared out of thin air, causing Sierra to let out a yelp and Blaze to light her fists on fire, which steamed in the rain. Katherine glanced up and blinked in surprise when she recognized the newcomer. "Flame?"

The girl smirked, her black hair dripping thanks to the falling rain. The four cats stood in a small circle until Katherine frowned. "What are you doing here?"

"Saving your sorry butts." Flame snickered. "Follow my lead and I'll get you out of here."

"Why would we do that?" Blaze put a hand on her hip, extinguishing her flaming fists.

Flame gave her a look and glanced at the door, causing everyone to look over and see the door bending forward unnaturally. "You don't have much time. Now are you going to listen to me or are you going to insult me again?" Flame said dryly.

Katherine sighed and glanced at Flame. "What's the plan?"

Flame smirked. "Have any of you created a blast of energy before?"

The other three shook their heads no.

"Here's how: you concentrate on all of your energy coming out of the palm of your hand and it will create a blast. I'm not sure how we're going to get off this tower just yet but you might need to know that in case…"

Suddenly part of the door snapped and Flame paled. "Evasive maneuvers! To the edge of the tower, follow me if you please!"

Flame led the three cats to the edge of the tower and all four of them stole a glass downwards, seeing the ground far below them. The sight made Flame dizzy but she managed to keep a hold of herself and stand up, taking a deep breath. She turned to the others. "How well do you trust me?" She asked them.

"Not at all." Blaze and Katherine said in union.

"Maybe just a _tiny_ bit…" Sierra said quietly.

Flame grinned and waved her hand towards the edge. "Good! Let's jump!"

Katherine's jaw dropped. "What, are you crazy?"

"We'll all die if we jump!" Blaze added angrily.

Flame smirked and grabbed onto Katherine's hand with one and Blaze's hand with the other. Nervously, Blaze grabbed onto Sierra's and the three of them stared at Flame as she showed a very scary grin. "Well, maybe I'm a bit insane but don't worry: we cats always land on our feet!" She said and then ran towards the edge, dragging the others after her as the door behind them fell over, causing guards to also fall over and others to scramble over their companions, running towards the three escapees.

Blaze, Sierra, and Katherine felt their hearts beating in their throats as Flame dragged them to the edge. "But Flame!" Katherine cried. "That's only a metephoooooor!" The ending was like that because by then, Flame had jumped off the edge, dragging Blaze, Katherine, and Sierra after her.

Time slowed down and the guards stopped at the edge and gaped as all four girls started screaming, letting go of each other's hands, and plummeted towards the ground.

Flame started laughing while falling. "This is amazing!" She cried.

"Are you _crazy_?" Katherine demanded to her. "We're going to DIE!"

Blaze and Sierra were too busy screaming to hear the conversation while Flame laughed even harder. The wind made their ears go flat against their head as they tumbled towards the ground, flipping head over heels with the ground flying towards them.

"Remember what I told you guys?" Flame yelled over the rush of the wind.

"What? That cats always land on their feet?" Katherine yelled at her.

"No! Before that! Now would be a good time for you to do that!" Flame yelled back. She placed her palms together and managed to straighten herself out. She concentrated on her energy flowing out to the palm of her hand and willed it to make a blast.

Black energy flew out of her hands and crashed into the ground far below, slowing Flame's fall. As soon as she was close to a nearby rooftop, she stopped the blast, flipped and landed on the rooftops without a scratch.

Katherine frowned and lifted her hands out along with Blaze and Sierra. The three cats willed their energy to fly out of their hands and a column of fire, white, and black energy shot from their palms, slowing them down and then slowly lifting them back up.

The three girls stopped their blasts when they were close to the rooftop Flame was on and jumped onto it. Sierra fell to the ground as soon as her feet touched the roof, panting. "That… that was terrifying! Why did you make us do that? And how did I do that? Why do I have black energy flying out of my hands?"

Flame shrugged. "It's the energy of your soul… at least it was fun."

"We don't have time to ask and answer questions!" Katherine yelled at them. "We have to get out of here! Come on!"

Katherine led the way across the rooftops now, heading towards the tall stone walls before them. Flame, Blaze, and Sierra followed after a moment of hesitation and all of them ran with the sound of guards chasing after them once again.

"Watch out!" Sierra cried and all four girls instinctively dived to the ground as a blast of red energy shot right where their heads used to be.

They glanced over and saw Tails, his two tails spinning like crazy to keep him afloat as he lifted a fist angrily. "None of you are getting out of this castle alive!" He growled angrily. He pulled another remote out of nowhere and pressed down on the button and the entire castle grounds started trembling.

"Come on, MOVE!" Flame yelled at the others. All the girls scrambled to their feet and ran for their dear lives while Tails let out an evil laugh.

They ran over rooftops and jumped to get to the next rooftop, their shoes splashing up water and they almost slipped and fell off the edge multiple times. Lightning flashed in the sky but no one bothered to check to see if it was from Zap or not.

Suddenly, Katherine, still being in the front, let out a yelp and slid to a stop, barely avoiding the edge of the building. She looked down and could see that _this_ was where the moat was. It surrounded the edge of the inside of the castle, even though the moat itself was far below them, maybe about two thousand feet or so downwards. Katherine could barely see the murky water running far below her. Water that was once filling up the streets thanks to the rain was now dumping gallons of water over the edge and into the moat far below, creating a roar of a waterfall all around them.

Then, Blaze crashed into Katherine, getting her closer to the edge. "Careful Blaze!" Katherine yelped. She looked up at the wall straight ahead of her, as soon as she got her balance again. That was at least fifty feet away. No one could logically jump that, and going down wasn't an option. Katherine had already fallen once today and that itself was plenty of times.

Flame then crashed into Blaze and Katherine slid closer to the edge. Both girls glared back at Flame as she glanced back at Sierra who tried to stop, slid, and then crashed into Flame, who crashed into Blaze, who smashed into Katherine, who almost toppled over the edge.

The four girls held their breath and let out a sigh of relief when none of them toppled over. But, the castle trembled again reminding them of Tails' remote and how it had caused the entire castle grounds to tremble before.

Katherine then slipped, and toppled over the edge of the building towards the moat far below with a scream.

"KATHERINE!" Blaze yelled as Katherine tipped head over heels towards the ground far below.

"Oh well, there goes her." Flame said dryly.

"Flame!" Sierra scolded.

Katherine screamed as she flipped. She tried straightening herself out as she fell but it was almost impossible. She then heard a roar underneath her and could barely glance down to see something flying up towards her.

The cat reached out a hand and felt cool metal as something _flew_ past her and gripped onto a chink in the metal before it yanked her back upwards towards the others. Katherine pulled herself onto the metal contraption, thanked the universe that this metal thing happened to be around while she was falling, and gasped when she realized she was flying on a metal dragon.

She passed by the rooftop Blaze, Sierra, and Flame were on and managed to grab Blaze's hand as she passed, who then grabbed Flame's, who grabbed Sierra's and all four cats were pulled onto the metal dragon.

"A metal dragon?" Flame demanded. She sighed after a moment. "What are the odds of this happening to me?"

"Haha!" Katherine cried. "Faster!"

Sierra laughed and Blaze was grinning like a fool as the metal dragon shot into the sky and spread out giant metallic wings. They looked over and saw Tails, remote in hand, scowling and trying to work the controls on the dragon. The dragon started spinning, trying to throw them off but to no prevail.

"You're going to have to try harder to get rid of us, Metal Head!" Flame taunted.

The dragon turned towards the wall and then flew towards it as fast as it could. Katherine could see the wall flying towards them and realized Tails was controlling this thing to self destruct by crashing into the wall.

"Hold on, girls!" She called, gripping even tighter on the metal. "This is going to get rough!"

"I thought metal was smooth." Flame joked.

"Flame! Not now!"

Blaze glanced at the wall, realizing what Katherine was implying. "The force of the crash might be enough to launch us over the wall!"

Katherine nodded. "I was hoping for that. Everyone get ready to jump!"

The dragon flew even faster, blowing their ears and fur back with the howl of the wind in their ears. Everyone held their breath as it crashed into the wall head on, throwing all four of them off and the dragon exploded into bits of metal and a fireball underneath them. The shockwave from the explosion shot the four of them even higher into the air as they flipped forwards once or twice, barely missed from crashing into the top of the wall, and over to the other side.

The four of them crashed into the ground hard and groaned, slowly getting up. They all yelped as they saw guards from outside running towards them. "Come on! Move!" Katherine yelped, helping the others to their feet.

All girls slid in the mud, trying to get up, but managed to get to their feet and run for their lives once again away from the castle with guards chasing them.

"Let's all hope we're faster than the guards!" Flame said, grinning.

"FLAME!" Katherine yelled.

Blaze glanced back. "They're gaining!"

"Not for long!" Sierra slid to a stop lifted a hand and created another dark energy blast that knocked the guards backwards and onto the ground, stopping them from chasing them. The crew dived behind their dragon shaped rock and held their breath.

"You think we lost them?" Katherine whispered.

"Yep, but not us." A new voice said.

Katherine had barely enough time to turn but was suddenly hugged by Silver. Silver closed his eyes and smiled as Katherine hugged him back and smiled weakly. "Silver… you know I'm fine, right?"

Silver said nothing but continued to hug her tightly.

After a moment, Shadow walked up, shoved Silver out of the way and hugged his sister tightly while Silver glared at him. Katherine opened her mouth to say something, but then thought better of it and closed her mouth.

The rest of the group ran forward, being thankful the four of them made it back alive. Sonic nearly ran Sierra over as she barely finished giving Rouge a hug. Sonic looked at her nervously. "Are you alright, Sierra?"

Sierra laughed. "Don't worry about me, Sonic! I'm perfectly fine."

Sonic gave her a hug. "Good… because maybe I need you around too."

Sierra smiled and returned the hug.

"Flame, don't you _ever_ do that again!" Strife scolded the cat as he gave her a quick hug.

Flame rolled her eyes. "Were you worried about me?"

"N-no!" Strife said stubbornly.

Flame glanced at him and raised an eyebrow before smiling a small smile. "Well, I'm fine now."

Strife smiled back and there was a moment where both of them stood, smiling at each other until Fengari marched up and hugged Flame tightly. "You're alive! You won't believe how desperate Strife was getting." He said to her.

"I… noticed…! Fengari… let… go… you're… cracking… ribs!" Flame gasped and the wolf quickly let her go.

There was the sound of whistles and everyone froze from their happy moment and realized they were still in the way of Nazo's fury. They quickly nodded to each other before running off in a random direction together, with the rain pounding down on them and the wind blowing right through them like knives.

**Okay done! Now to that OC fight, please review and I'll see you when the next chapter comes around!**

**Windy *runs in* "Katherine? Where are you? Oh, there you are, come on! You're going to miss it!"**

**Chaos (Chaos belongs to chaosthehedgehog) *ducks in after Windy* "Hurry up, Katherine!"**

**Katherine "I'm coming I'm coming, but I think SandHeart here wants to stop the fight!"**

**Me "Am not! I'm going to sit back and laugh. One does not simply stop a fight Xerius and Chase start."**

**Chaos "She has a point."**

***all of us run out***


	12. Chapter 12

**Me *looks at Chase in the hospital bed next to Xerius* "So, Chase. What did you learn today?"**

**Chase *dryly* "That Xerius cheats when he fights"**

**Xerius *growls* **_**"I dare you to say that again."**_

**Chase *rolls his eyes* "It was true, you said you wouldn't use your claws!"**

**Xerius **_**"And you said you wouldn't use your speed as an advantage."**_

**Katherine "I'm not even sure who won that fight…"**

**Chase "Me of course!"**

**Xerius *raises an eyebrow* **_**"You must need more bandages on that head of yours, Chase. It was obviously me who won that fight."**_

**Me *sighs while the two start arguing* "Anyways, while I'm here I might as well post up the next chapter. This chapter was brought to you by the reviewers: BlackStormNomad, Strife the Dark 152, Maraya Prower, Chaosthehedgehog, and Amicus!"**

**Strife the Dark 152= They can yell at you. And glad you enjoyed the moments.  
Xerius *dips head* **_**"Fengari. Nice to see you again."  
**_**Flame *laughs* "If it makes you feel better Strife, I do too."**

**BlackStormNomad= TWIN NAME PAL! Yeah… school lucky duck that you don't start soon!  
Xsus "All of 'em! Except coconut cashew… *shudders* that stuff has a weird aftertaste."  
*Shadow and Xerius walk over* Shadow "Hello Robyn."  
Xerius *gives suspicious look to Robyn*  
*Katherine and Aero continue fighting***

**Maraya Prower= Yes! I get the best OC award! You guys here that? You are officially the best out there!**  
***cheers from all OCs***  
**Anyways, thanks for the review and I'm with you there… Tails' is too cute for that kind of pain XP**  
**Windy *laughs* "I think Xerius won… here you go." *hands her the money***

**Chaosthehedgehog= Nice! I actually wanted more! Can you send me the next chapter? I bet I can work with it more later though, not now but so far I'm liking what I'm seeing! Also, thanks for all the info but I got ONE more question: what's his personality? (Jw… have you read Katherine's Tale yet…?)**

**Amicus (My Latin friend)= Lol got a nickname for you! Anyways, I hope you can take Latin again someday I liked the language when I was learning it for the half year I had it. Glad you liked everything in the chapter (Shade owned everyone and Flame giving ninja lessons- haha that made me laugh)**

***Sorry if my "thank you for reviewing" seemed short, I'm have limited computer time again!*  
**

**DISCLAIMER= ****Strife and Fengari belong to Strife the Dark 152 and are in the story (along with Flame): Sonic the Hedgehog: the Darkness Incarnate****. **_**Zap, and all of the Dimension Jumpers, plot, and the world of Darrius belongs to me, BlackSandHeart**_**. SEGA has the copyright of the character it owns in the story. There you go. Now to the story!**

**Chapter Twelve=**

"Rouge, what are you doing?" Sierra asked as Rouge hung upside down on the branch Sierra was patiently sitting on.

"Just hangin' around!" Rouge said then laughed at her own joke and Sierra rolled her eyes.

Zap walked around in a circle, a hand on his chin, and a thoughtful look on his face. "Well that plan was a complete failure. Now what are we going to do? We're stranded in the Forest of Shame with no food, water, or shelter and Nazo is _still_ the king."

Windy watched him walk around and shrugged. "Could be worse, we could be sitting in one of Nazo's cells waiting for certain death."

Zap gave Windy a look. "Okay, okay sorry, sheesh!" Windy muttered.

"Are we on our territory still or the Cowboy's territory?" Shadow asked as he sat close to Katherine. Ever since yesterday with the incident of almost getting captured by Nazo, the ebony hedgehog seemed to keep a close eye on his sister, as if daring her to disappear.

Zap shrugged. "I have no idea. I don't even _know_ what part of the Forest of Shame we're in!"

The crew glanced over at Rouge, who shrugged. "Don't look at me, I might be a traveler but I have never been to this part of the Forest of Shame before."

Everyone became quiet.

Sonic started juggling the three Chaos Emeralds they had. "Well… maybe we should start looking for the next three Chaos Emeralds. There's seven total, we have three, Nazo has one, and the other three can't be too far away!"

"Great idea." Zap said sarcastically. "Let's go find something that we have no idea where it is, oh! And then maybe we could just _happen_ to find food along the way!"

Sonic glared at Zap. "It was just a suggestion."

Zap rolled his eyes and Windy sighed. "Calm down, Zap."

"I will _not_ calm down until I find a way for all of us to survive!" Zap snapped angrily.

The crew became quiet once again.

…until a twig snapped.

Everyone's ears perked up at the noise and they all glanced towards the shadows of the forest where a figure walked out calmly then froze when they saw the others.

"Monarchs!" The newcomers yelled, pulling out their gun.

"Cowboys!" Katherine growled, pulling out her sword.

"STOP IT!" Sonic yelled, using his fast speed to get in between the two of them.

Both of them lowered their weapons and the newcomer frowned. "Sonic… what are you doing way out here in the Forest of Shame? I saved you once out here, do I have to do it again?"

Sonic winked at the newcomer. "If you wouldn't mind, Ria."

Ria sighed as Sierra hopped down from the tree. "RIA!"

"Sierra? Sierra!" Ria hugged Sierra tightly as soon as Sierra was in front of her.

"Ria?" A new voice called out. Everyone looked at the woods as Jason and Chase scrambled out of the shrubbery. Jason continued talking. "Are you okay? Where are those blasted…Monarchs?" By now Jason saw the rest of the crew and gaped, straightening his hat. "How in the name of…"

"Don't swear," Katherine lifted up a hand threateningly. "You say one cuss word and _I_ swear I'll slice your head off."

Jason blinked and scowled at Katherine. "Hold on just a moment, are you threatening me, Monarch?"

"Maybe I am, Cowboy!"

"Well maybe you shouldn't be!"

"Well maybe both of you should shut up!" Flame snapped at the two of them, shutting them both up and both of them glanced at the cat as she scowled. She looked like she had just woken up and was pushing herself off of Strife's lap while giving Katherine and Jason a dark look."Monarchs, Cowboys, whatever. You got a town nearby, fool?"

"Who you calling a fool?" Chase stepped forward angrily.

"Not you," Flame snapped. "Now shut up."

Chase closed his mouth, shocked at Flame's behavior while Sonic turned to Flame angrily. "There's no need for this, Flame. I got this, let me handle it."

Flame rolled her eyes but stayed quiet. She laid her head back down on Strife's lap and closed her eyes again.

Sonic turned to Chase, Jason, and Ria. "Okay, first things first, we're in some needs of supplies so can you lead us to Ocean Rider so we can stock up?"

Jason shrugged. "As long as your Monarch friends don't burn up the bar. Vector's still furious about the bar going up in flames. We have to head back soon anyways, we just finished gathering the day's hunt. How did you escape get away from your capturers, Sonic?"

"I'll… explain later." Sonic laughed sheepishly.

Jason smirked. "Well, if any of you cause any trouble in town I'll blow your heads off with a bullet, understood?"

"Yes sir." Sierra nodded, saluting.

Jason rolled his eyes and motioned the others to follow him, which they did after a moment of getting up and ready. He led the crew west with his rife strapped on his back with Chase and Ria following him. They still wore the same clothes they had when Sonic first met them, the only difference was that this time they were all wearing cowboy hats.

Sonic glanced around at the large trees around them and wondered how far they had traveled from the castle yesterday. They had ran all night to get to the forest then all had basically passed out cold on the ground with the rain falling on top of them until the next morning.

Rouge floated past Sonic, pulling him out of his thoughts as she flew up to Jason. "Hello, Jason."

Jason groaned. "Hello Rouge. Xerius is still in Ocean Rider. More fights have been breaking out recently so don't you bother messing with him."

Rouge gasped in mock hurt. "What? Me? Mess with him? Why I'd never!"

Jason gave her a look and Rouge laughed. "Okay, okay, calm down, sugar. I'll try not to mess with Xie."

"The Sheriff is going to get a kick out of this, Jason." Chase whispered to Jason.

Jason nodded and looked back at the crew, thinking about what Espio was going to do when he found out about _this_.

-XXXXXXXX-

"Welcome to the town of Ocean Rider!" Ria said gently, waving a hand to the town. She glared back at the Monarchs. "And you Monarchs better not cause any trouble in our town, you hear me?"

"I hear you, I hear you." Katherine said as she walked up next to Ria, investigating the town. "So… this is the town Ocean Rider Sonic was so worried about."

Ria rolled her eyes, ignoring Katherine's comment. "The Sheriff will probably want to see you guys as soon as we're in."

Ria, Jason, and Chase led the crew into the town. It still looked the exact same way it had when Sonic had last visited here but the only difference was that Vector's bar was missing. All that was left in that area was some burnt wood. There were still horse drawn carriages, horses, and people walking here and there and most of the people that were in the town were the same as well.

As they walked along, the team got some interesting looks as they moved along and Shadow growled angrily. "Why do they stare at us like that?"

"I don't know," Katherine muttered. "But I kind of want to give them a reason to stare."

"Stop right there!" A familiar voice called. The entire crew looked down the road and noticed a familiar chameleon with a gold star and a cowboy hat pulled low over his face.

"Espio!" Sonic called.

Espio lifted up his hat so he could see the one who called him and frowned. "Sonic? Oh how good it is to see you're still alive. Sierra too? Excellent."

Amy frowned. "Who's this guy?"

"He's the Sheriff," Sonic explained. "Just don't get on his bad side or Xerius' and we'll all be good."

Cream frowned. "Xerius? That's a scary name…!"

"Excuse me little lady…" A voice said quietly next to Cream. Cream glanced over and let out a yelp when she saw Xsus standing next to her. He laughed quietly and rubbed the back of his head before handing a flower, one of the ones Cosmo grew, to her. "I saw you and thought that a pretty girl like you needed a flower that matched her prettiness!"

Cream accepted the flower and looked at Xsus. "What is your name, sir knight?"

Xsus' face turned red. "I am anything but a knight, but I am known as Xsus."

"Well, Sir Xsus, it is a pleasure meeting such an honorable boy as yourself!" Cream smiled at him.

Xsus' face was even redder and he could only nod and walk away. He grinned and made a fist pump in the term of a _yes _as he walked by Espio, who watched him pass with a confused look on his face. Espio looked back up at the group. "Sonic, what are you doing here? Did you catch these Monarchs?"

"Anything but!" Katherine growled, taking a step forward but both Silver and Shadow stopped her.

Flame chuckled. "If that blue hedgehog caught me I must've lost some of my dignity."

Strife laughed and Fengari rolled his eyes.

Espio narrowed his eyes at Katherine. "Oh, I see, if he hasn't caught you, then why are you here?"

Sonic sighed as the chameleon and long eared cat started arguing with each other. This slowly brought in the rest of the group to argue, and even brought in some civilians in the town of Ocean Rider into the fight. He frowned and looked thoughtful. Why were they bothering wasting their time here when they all knew that Nazo was the biggest threat at the moment? It was pointless!

There had to be some way for them to be able to take out Nazo and stop these two nations from… bickering… an idea lit up in Sonic's mind and he turned to the group to see Espio fingering his gun and Katherine holding onto the hilt of her sword.

"Alright!" Sonic yelled at them, shutting everyone up. Sonic walked up in between Espio and Katherine and waved his hands at both sides. "Fighting is _not_ the answer we need guys, come on! The real threat is Nazo and what we need to do now is work _together_ so we can take him out!"

A stunned moment of silence was all that reached Sonic's ears so he continued before they could beg to differ. "Even if we beat Nazo with one side or the other, this disagreement between the Knights and the Cowboys is going to be a major issue and there will _never_ be peace. We need to work together in order to solve this. Monarchs, I know you all like Kings and Queens and stuff but just because the Cowboys don't like it doesn't mean you can argue with them about it. Cowboys, just because _you_ guys don't like the Monarchs in general doesn't give you guys rights to just hate them. Don't you see? Working together is the answer we need."

"I'm never going to work with a blasted Monarch, ever!" A blue hawk said angrily, glaring at Shadow.

Shadow growled at him and shook his head. "As long as I don't have to work with the bird I'll be fine."

Sonic gave Shadow a look and continued. "So what do you guys say? Should we work together to win this fight?"

There was a long moment of silence until Espio walked up to Katherine, the look on his face somewhat guilty. "It wasn't my place to think of you as such an easy person to capture. I apologize, I'm sick of this war as much as you are and hope we can work together."

Katherine smiled and shook Espio's hand as he held it out. "Please doing business with you sir… but I admit that I haven't been the best either. I should've stepped down instead of fight like I always do, I guess I do it all the time now so it's a survival instinct now or something… I hope we can work together too."

The two smiled at each other and then Espio turned to Sonic. "I can tell you now that we, the cowboys of Ocean Rider are at your service to take out King Nazo." He turned around and glared at the townsfolk around him. "And if any of you boys have a problem with it you better high tail it outta here!"

Sonic smirked and looked at Katherine. Katherine lowered her head to the ground for a moment and then stood tall. "I will gladly help working with the Cowboys to take out King Nazo… and I hope the rest of my team agrees."

Collective nods went up from Amy, Cream, Shadow, Silver, Windy, Blaze, and Zap.

Sonic glanced over to Team Moon.

Strife nodded. "We'll help." Flame and Fengari nodded their heads in agreement until all three got distracted by a large beetle on the ground.

"Then together it is!" Sonic said with a grin and the entire town of Ocean Rider broke out into cheers.

**Xerius *growls* **_**"Just because you can't get a simple date…"**_

**Chase "Since when has any of this had to deal with a date, Xerius?!"**

**Xerius *gives him a look***

**Chase *glares* "Alright, alright, you got a point there but still!"**

**Katherine "Um… the author left during the story to see if the doctor could knock them out with some medicine or something so that leaves me with the conclusion. Please review and we'll see you when the next chapter comes around! …No! Chase, put down that pot of flowers…"**


	13. Chapter 13

**Omega "GIVING STORY TO THE READERS. PLEASE HOLD WHILE IT UPDATES... ENJOY THIS SHORT OF ZAP AND TAILS ARGUING WITH EACH OTHER OVER THE MEANING OF LIFE WHILE THE STORY UPDATES ITSELF."**

***hologram playing* Zap "Tails! I'm telling you, the answer is forty-two!"**

**Tails "How can that be? I'm almost positive that the answer is six times seven!"**

**Zap *throws hands into the air in frustration* "That **_**is**_** forty-two!"**

**Tails "Have you been to one of Eggman's science and math classes?!"**

**Zap *frowns* "Eggman has classes?"**

**Tails "They're more like debates… that end up into arguments… where Eggman pulls out a robot then Sonic runs in and destroys it. We meet every other Thursday."**

**Zap "Sounds… interesting…"**

***hologram disappears***

**Omega "NEED MORE TIME. I WILL THANK THE REVIEWERS TO PASS THE TIME AWAY. THANKS GOES TO: STRIFE THE DARK 152, AMICUS, BLACKSTORMNOMAD, UNKNOWNFOLLOWER, AND CHAOSTHEHEDGEHOG FOR REVIEWING. HERE'S THE NOTES THE AUTHOR LEFT BEHIND FOR YOU:"**

**Strife the Dark 152= True, true.  
Flame *grins* "When your shoulder became less comfortable."**

**Amicus= Latin Friend! You reviewed!  
Anyways… yeah basically it did I suppose. Although the two are still arguing over who won the fight…  
Xsus "Yay! A hug!" *hugs back***

**BlackStormNomad= Twin Name Pal! Why do you want school to start?! I doubt it's because of the homework.  
Katherine *smashes Aero in the head with the hilt of her sword* "Can't you see the woman doesn't want you near her, little **_**brother**_**?"  
Shadow *sighs* "I have the strangest family ever."  
Xerius *nods slowly and then glances at Robyn like nothing happened* **_**"Yes. Xerius in my name…"  
**_**Xsus *shudders* "It was… terrifying…"**

**UnknownFollower= You're back! Hope the wedding was fun! And yeah, Tails' evil… thought it would bring an interesting twist into the story.  
Xerius and Chase "….."  
Katherine "Thank you…!"**

**Chaosthehedgehog= Thanks so much for the personality/story! I can't say when I'll bring them up but I will when I can… anyways, when I do work on them you wouldn't mind if I switch things around… make it longer… etc.? If not that's okay. Eleven chapters? NICE! I read your story so far and LOVE it! I actually cheered when Katherine came onto set and the two seem to have a close brother/sister relationship.**

**Disclaimer= ****Strife and Fengari belong to Strife the Dark 152. If you want to see some more action with them and Flame read the story Sonic the Hedgehog: the Darkness Incarnate. **_**I own nothing but the Dimension Jumpers, the plot, and the land of Darrius. **_**SEGA owns everything else.**

**Omega "UPDATE COMPLETE. PLEASE ENJOY THE STORY. THE AUTHOR APPOLIGIZES FOR HOW SHORT THE CHAPTER IS. THE NEXT ONE WILL BE LONGER."**

**Chapter Thirteen=**

"So," Espio said with a frown and handed Sonic two new Chaos Emeralds, the colors yellow and green. "Here are some weird emeralds we've found recently in the Forest of Shame, is this what you're looking for?"

"That's them!" Sonic grinned, taking the emeralds from the Sheriff. "These are Chaos Emeralds!"

The blue blur had told him that he was looking for the Chaos Emeralds so he had a better chance of getting home and when he showed him the white Chaos Emerald he had, Espio told him he saw some like it and went back in to show him them and give them to him if they were the emeralds he was looking for.

Espio showed a dark grin. "Pleasure doing business with you, Sonic."

A knock on the door of the sheriff's office was heard and Sonic and Espio glanced back to see Sierra peaking into the room. "Um, Sheriff? Everyone's getting ready."

"Good, who's going?" Espio asked as he stood up straighter.

Sierra walked into the room, still wearing her knight clothes that made Espio scrunch up his nose for a moment until he remembered they had to work together. Any hard feelings towards the other could change the tide of this war faster than a drunk man falling over. The girl handed him a piece of paper and Espio muttered to himself as he read the names.

"Hmm… let's see here, Xerius, Rouge… gah that bat, Knuckles… him too? Hmm… okay Chase, Jason, Shadow, Katherine, Windy… what kind of name is that? Zap… hmm another weird name, Silver, Blaze… hmm wonder what a cat like her is doing on here, Sonic? Oh looks like you're on the list already. Strife, Fengari … hmm…" Espio looked up from the list and signed him name on the paper.

"Sheriff? You're going? But who's going to guard the town?" Sierra demanded as Espio handed the paper back to her.

"I'm going to put a young man who has a heart of steel up for that job." Espio shrugged. "Now anyways, I hope you find those other two Chaos Emeralds Sonic."

Sierra glanced at the Chaos Emeralds in Sonic's hands and looked at Espio again. She took the paper, grabbed a pen, and signed her name on the paper.

"Sierra?! What are you doing? It's too dangerous!" Sonic gasped as Sierra dropped the pen with a satisfied clunk.

Sierra looked at him. "I'm coming Sonic. And there's nothing you can do about it."

Sonic scowled, she was sounding like Sierra from _his_ world now. He looked at her with a frown. "But what if something bad happens to you again and I can't do anything about it?"

"You're the world's fastest hero, Sonic." Sierra smiled at him. She kissed him on the cheek and walked to the door. "I know you'll save me in time."

Sonic and Espio stared as Sierra left the house without looking back.

"Looks like she's going." Espio muttered and Sonic could only nod, feeling her lips still on his cheek.

-XXXXXXXX-

"Ria!" Jason said angrily as she picked up the paper from Sierra and signed her name on it. The girl turned to him and put a hand on her hip.

"Whatever you say is not changing my mind Jason. I'm going." Ria said seriously.

"What if you get hurt though?"

"Then it's my fault. I will not stand by and wait like a maiden waiting for a knight that might never come… no offence Amy." Ria said, glancing over to Amy as she stood nearby, listening to the argument.

"None taken," Amy shrugged. "Sometimes I wonder too."

Chase turned to Jason as Ria handed the paper back to Sierra, who took it and walked off to another part of town. "It might not be a bad thing, Ria is very good at battle and we might just win if she comes along."

"But…!" Jason started to say as Ria smiled at Chase.

"Thank you…" Ria said quietly.

"You're welcome." Chase smiled at her as she walked away towards Savanna who stood not too far away talking with Cosmo and Cream.

Jason glared at him. "If she gets hurt I'm blaming you too."

Chase rolled his eyes. "Okay, Jason. Because I'm totally involved with Ria signing a piece of paper."

Jason continued to glare at him.

-XXXXXXXX-

_"So, you're coming with us to fight Nazo?"_ Xerius asked the bat as she walked next to him through the town of Ocean Rider.

"Of course! Like I'd sit around and let you get hurt, Xie." Rouge teased.

Xerius rolled his eyes. He forgot how weird Rouge could be with her nicknames sometimes. He said nothing as Rouge glanced at him. "And you're going too, right?"

Xerius nodded.

"Maybe we'll be put on the same team!"

Xerius gave her a look.

"Oh don't give me that look, Xerius, it was just an idea!" Rouge groaned.

There was a moment of silence until Xerius smirked. _"Well, I'm glad to have you on the team, Rouge."_

Rouge stopped as Xerius continued to walk away, straightening his cowboy hat as he did so. Rouge blinked, smiled, and then ran to catch up with the silent warrior.

-XXXXXXXX-

Flame crossed her arms and stared seriously down at the town moving before her on top of the rooftops. She glanced back, almost positive that Strife would figure out sooner or later that she signed on the paper telling them that she was on the team.

"Flame!"

Oh, here he was.

"Strife," Flame said seriously as the hedgehog appeared out of the darkness behind her. Strife squinted up at the blue sky and hissed, obviously still not a big fan of the light.

"What were you thinking, signing that paper? You know you could get hurt?" Strife demanded to her.

Flame gave him a look. "So…?"

Strife shook his head. "I can't let my teammate get hurt while fighting Nazo. I didn't even like it when you went inside the castle by yourself."

"Yet you're letting Fengari go?" Flame snickered.

Strife said nothing. He took a deep breath, realizing there was _no_ way he was going to be able to talk Flame out of coming. The hedgehog shook his head and glanced at Flame. "Alright… just be careful, you hear me?"

"I am Flame." Flame said. "Since when has my life been _careful_?"

"Well then," Strife showed a confident smirk. "Looks like I'm going to have to keep my eye on you."

Flame glanced back and Strife tried to hide his grin, knowing he got her attention. He tapped her shoulder. "By the way… you're it." And then faded into the darkness.

Flame blinked, scowled, frowned, looked confused, and then growled. "Not funny, Strife. Not even a little bit."

-XXXXXXXXX-

"Alright!" Espio called to the group before him. "Is everyone ready to go?"

Sonic looked around the group, seeing Sierra on the other side. He was about to walk up to her when he saw Cream and Xsus talking to each other. Sonic grinned, it was just like how It was in his world.

Xsus handed a flower to Cream, who smiled and put it behind her ear. The two giggled to each other as Espio walked up to Xsus, with the rest of the groups' eyes following him as he moved up to the boy.

"Xsus?" Espio said to the boy quietly.

Xsus stopped giggling and turned around, his face blank and expressionless. "Yes, sir?"

Espio reached towards the gold sheriff star on his vest and started taking it off. "You, my boy, have outdone yourself recently. You've taken care of the ones around you and have a compassionate soul and heart. I was going to call Vector to take on this job but I realized that someone like you is more capable of doing it." With that Espio took off the star and pined it onto Xsus' shirt. "While I'm gone, you'll be the Sheriff for me."

Xsus' eyes widened. "Me? Sheriff?! While you're gone? But sir! Are you…?"

"I am completely aware of your situation. Your job is to guard this town to the best of your ability. The civilians here will help you with that. Take care, and remember, you're the sheriff now, Xsus." With that, Espio rubbed the top of Xsus' head, ruffling up his golden fur.

"Thank you, Sheriff… I mean… Espio… err… Sheriff!" Xsus said, frowning every time he wasn't sure what to call the ex-Sheriff.

"I'll be the Sheriff again when I get back though." Espio said to him and Xsus nodded, saluting the Sheriff.

Espio turned to the others. "Is everyone ready?"

"Ready," Shadow said seriously.

Espio nodded to the hedgehog. "Then let's ride."

The entire crew got on horses the townsfolk were nice enough to let them borrow. The town gathered out front to wave as the team rode off towards the direction of Nazo's castle together as Cowboys and Knights.

Xsus waved, standing in front of the townsfolk with Cream next to him and Vector, Cosmo, Savanna, Amy, and Charmy the bee standing behind them and the townspeople behind them.

As they rode off, Xerius turned to Espio, a frown on his face. _"Espio, you do realize we are leaving a ten-year-old boy to the hands of guarding the town while we're off to destroy the King of Evil, right?"_

Espio showed a confident grin while they rode. "Yes, but if the world ends while we're gone we won't have to worry about that anymore."

Xerius didn't know what to say as they rode off.

**Shadow *walks in* "Good job, Omega. You can leave now."**

**Omega "THANK YOU SHADOW." *leaves***

**Shadow "So, if you liked the chapter please reviewer. Tell us your likes, dislikes, what could be improved etc. don't be too harsh or what could be reviewed. Flame and Strife dealt with the last person that did that."**

**Chaos *peaks into the room* "Oh Shaaadow! Come on, you're missing the game!"**

**Shadow *looks back and nods* "Coming."**


	14. Chapter 14

**Strife "So… what are we going to do today?"**

**Fengari "How about we help upload the chapter first **_**then**_** we figure out what we're going to do today."**

**Flame "How about we hunt down Scourge? That green wanna be has been getting on my nerves lately."**

**Me "Alright, quiet you guys, I'm trying to thank the reviewers! BTW, Strife and Fengari belong to Strife 152, for more info, check out the disclaimer. Anyways, thanks go to *takes a deep breath*: UnknownFollower, BlackStormNomad, Strife the Dark 152, Maraya Prower, Amicus, and Chaosthehedgehog."**

**UnknownFollower=Eh, *shrugs* if you didn't want to dance you didn't want to dance. I'm sure your sister probably understood that much.  
Xsus on a sugar high while being Sheriff… heaven forbid. Anyways, glad you're liking the relationships and I hope you enjoy this chapter just as much!**

**BlackStormNomad= TWIN NAME BUD! Good heavens… sisters… that explains a lot. I have some too so I know how you feel *shudders*. I love them but they have their moments lol.  
Shadow *laughs quietly* "Yes… you should've seen her when we were on the ARK. She was much more random and tried to kill Maria with a lamp."  
Katherine "It was an accident! …wait… how did you find out about that?! You didn't even exist when that happened!" *watches Aero fly through the air* "Nice shot!"  
Xerius **_**"Weird family?"**_**  
Shadow "She's related to Tails."  
Xerius: O_O  
Xsus *eyes widen and jaw drops* "NO FLIPPING WAY! How did you do that?! I need that to happen to me when I need some!"**

**Strife the Dark= Well don't worry, this chapter's longer. *Watches Fengari* If only Zenox was here to see this.  
Flame *scowls and then sighs in disbelief* "Strife!"**

**Maraya Prower= Yay! It's good to know that **_**someone**_** at least likes the SierraxSonic moments.  
Zap *pats head* "They won't hurt you. Your advice makes sense at least."  
Xsus *screams it to the world* "I'm believed in!"  
Xerius *face palms***

**Amicus= Don't worry… Sierra might actually be good in this place! Oh… might. Hmm… anyways yes, they ride!  
Anyways Xsus has something for you:  
Xsus *eyes glowing with happiness* "You tried a waffle cone?! They are amazing things of tastiness brought to you from the heavens…" *licks lips***

**Chaosthehedgehog= Okay, I've "seen" '06 and I actually really liked Mephiles, I thought he was flat out the coolest bad guy known so idk why people hate that game (*snickers* maybe it is because they're jealous but come on, anyone can out play Elise). Sonic generations I've been trying to get that game- I really want to play it. Anyways, I kind of laughed when you added the lamp part- I was all like "I remember that part…!" and Chaos' chao: Nightshade- she's cute. Funny, because if you want my opinion, I thought it was impossible to make friends online (facebook doesn't count) until I came on here- lol. Now I've made new friends, even some that aren't from the states (like you).  
So far… your stories? They're flipping amazing! It's awesome how you're managing to combine Katherine's Tale with your story easily! Once again I was depressed when Maria died… but still. And reading the story reminded me of how much I still hate Towers…  
Katherine "Chaos! Are you okay?"  
Shadow "He'll wake up in a moment. Anyone wants to pass out at the thought of Sierra and Sonic becoming a couple."  
Katherine *scowls at him* "You're terrible."**

**Disclaimer= ****Strife the Dark 152 owns Strife and Fengari. The two of them are in the story called Sonic the Hedgehog: the Darkness Incarnate (good story).**_** I own the Dimension Jumpers, the Mobians you've never heard of before, the plot, and the world of Darrius.**_** SEGA owns everything else. Use ANY of these characters without permission results in me getting full rights to send Zap your way- and no. That's not a joke.  
On that happy note: here's the story!**

**Chapter Fourteen=**

"So _this_ is the castle Nazo hides in." Jason said dryly as his horse counted on the ground, neighing fearfully. Jason gave the horse a reassuring pat on its neck before glancing back at the others. "Kind of intimidating, huh?"

The crew pulled up right on the outskirts of the city, far enough that the guards in the watchtower couldn't see them but close enough that it wasn't too far for the cannon Zap and Espio brought along to work.

Sonic the hedgehog shook his head as he stood before the ancient cannon. Now _this_ thing looked like something off of Pirates of the Caribbean, a group of movies Jason had made him watch (by now Sonic was deciding not to watch movies with his friends anymore). It was gleaming black and had a small string that when it lit on fire, would quickly fly down the string and then launch out the cannonball out of the cannon, however, the cannonball this time was Sonic himself.

"I'm not sure if I like this idea." Sonic admitted as he stared into the darkness of the cannon.

"Nonsense, you're a hedgehog. Hedgehogs roll up into a ball all the time." Zap said dryly as he looked at the wall in the distance, then the cannon, and then moved the cannon an inch to the left.

Sierra frowned, glancing over at him as she sat on top of a black stallion. "If he doesn't like the idea then he shouldn't do it."

"No, no, I'm… I'm fine." Sonic said slowly, not wanting to back down now that Sierra was listening.

Sierra's frown grew. "Are you sure?"

"Positive."

The crew stood in a tight circle and the plan they made seemed simple while they rode, according to Zap that is. Sonic was to be launched through the cannon, through the wall, and to the other side of the wall then head straight for Nazo. On the other side, the rest of the crew would run in after Sonic and would help take out the guards and would eventually- hopefully- catch up to Sonic and help him with taking care of Nazo.

The only one whose plans weren't this was Xerius'. The cowboy had been given a special mission that he didn't tell anyone, nor did Zap or Espio. However, Sonic didn't really care about Xerius' plan. He had the most dangerous one by far, in his opinion.

Katherine explained to Zap about the large canyon on the other side of the wall and Espio and Xerius set off to make a small, quick bridge awhile earlier. They came back not too long ago with a large, rickety wooden board that made Sonic feel a bit better about being launched.

"Alright, all set." Zap said, looking at Sonic and smirking at the worried look on the blue hedgehog's face. "Don't worry, it's completely safe… until you hit the wall."

"What?!"

"I'm a realist Sonic." Zap said and he waved a hand at the cannon. "Get in."

Sonic looked back at the others and all of them waved goodbye or gave him a look in their terms of farewell. Before he could climb in though, he got hugged tightly from behind by Sierra, who must've gotten off her horse while he wasn't looking. Sonic glanced back at her and grinned. "Don't worry, Sierra, I'll be back soon, I promise."

"You better," Sierra muttered, her voice muffled by his fur.

Sonic smiled as Sierra let go of him and she smiled weakly. "Just don't get hurt, you hear me, Sonic?"

The hedgehog nodded and climbed into the cannon, rolling up tight into a ball as he did so. He could only hope for getting out of this tight spot soon, he never was a fan of being in small places and being confined from moving around.

Sierra took a deep breath as the others climbed off their horses, ready to charge into battle. She pulled out her sword and marched up and stood beside Ria, who glanced at her and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

There was a moment of silence, a _long_ moment of silence.

"Fire!" Zap cried.

Jason snapped a finger and fire flickered off his hand onto the cannon's fuse. The crew watched the flame fly down the string towards the depths of the cannon. There was a rumbling sound as soon as it went into it and then an explosion as Sonic flew out of the cannon, spinning.

There was a moment as the blue blur was in the air and then he shot towards the castle wall, then right through it which sent the entire castle wall he crashed into tumbling over, opening up to the city within and Zap grinned. "CHARGE!" He yelled, pulling out his sword and lifting it forward. Then, the entire group jumped forward.

-XXXXXXXX-

Sonic stumbled to his feet, his head spinning from the crash and then looked up, seeing shocked civilians looking like they had been dragged through the Land of the Dead and back- as Katherine would put it. They had dirt smudged on their bodies, dirty clothes, and were as skinny as toothpicks.

"What the…?!" Sonic said as he looked at the sight before him. Then, he remembered what he had to do. He waved his hands at the people. "Everyone get out of here! Now!"

The civilians ran off screaming and running in different directions as Sonic charged towards Nazo's castle, pulling out his sword as he did so. He shoved a guard out of his way when it came charging towards him. A bell started ringing from somewhere far off, signaling an alarm as Sonic flew around the corner at full speed.

Behind him, Espio the Chameleon and Shadow the hedgehog reached the edge of the canyon that led to the moat far below. Espio held the wooden plank high above his head and leaned it out to the other side, surprised to see that it managed to make it across perfectly.

"Alright, everyone across!" Espio called to the others, straightening his cowboy hat.

Sierra was the first on and held her arms out as she balanced her way across the small bridge. Ria jumped on after her, followed by Chase, Jason, Xerius, Shadow, Katherine, Blaze, and so on until everyone but Espio was across.

By that time, the group was fighting with the guards that ran forward for a counterattack and Xerius turned to Espio. _"The civilians! They're going to get killed in the crossfire!"_

Espio frowned and cupped his hands over his mouth. "We need to get them out of here! Tell Shadow and Katherine to take your mission!"

Xerius nodded and ran off in search of Shadow and his sister. Meanwhile, Espio stood on the other end of the bored, holding it steady and trying to stop it from falling off and stranding his friends on the other side of the abyss.

The silent warrior found Shadow and Katherine not too far away, thankfully fighting side by side. He ran up to them. _"You two!"_

Shadow and Katherine looked back at him. "Oh, you must be Xerius." Katherine said. "Good to meet you finally."

Xerius dipped his head. _"Goes both ways, anyways, I need you two to do the mission for me."_

"And what is that?" Shadow raised an eyebrow and the three of them ducked as Strife the Dark punched a guard clear over their heads.

Xerius stood up straight again and looked at them. He reached into his pocket and pulled out nine sticks of dynamite, that made Katherine and Shadow's eyes widen. "This… this is your secret mission?! A bunch of… what is that?!" Katherine demanded.

_"Dynamite. It explodes. I need you two to put it in the depths of the castle and blow it up from the inside." _Xerius explained.

Katherine frowned and took the sticks of dynamite before putting them in her pockets. She nodded slowly, looking at Xerius. "What are you doing instead of blowing up castles?"

Xerius smirked. _"Helping Espio save lives."_

Shadow raised an eyebrow and looked at Katherine. "Do you know how to even work those things?"

Katherine shook her head and both looked at Xerius.

_"You light the end of the string on fire, it's like the cannon… but a lot smaller and much, much more dangerous. You have to get out of there as fast as you can." _Xerius explained. _"If you're not fast enough you're dead."_

Shadow and Katherine nodded. "We'll do our best!" Katherine said.

Xerius nodded, turned and then ran towards some guards intimidating some of the civilians to help them out. Shadow turned to Katherine. "If we're going to go blow up the castle, now is the best time."

"The bottom part of the castle he said…" Katherine said, nodding her head slowly. "Alright, shouldn't be too hard."

"Katherine!" A voice called behind her.

Katherine spun around. "Silver!"

The white hedgehog ran up to her and gave her a tight hug. "I know that look, don't kill yourself, you hear me?"

Katherine could only nod.

Silver let go and gave a look to Shadow, who also nodded his head. Then Silver ran off with a wave of farewell until he kicked a nearby guard away from stabbing Blaze. He used his telekinesis to throw the guard into the air and out of sight while Katherine turned to Shadow.

"Let's go."

Shadow nodded and the two ran away from the fight and towards the castle Sonic already was at.

The blue blur slid to a stop at the entrance and threw open the large, stone doors. He reminded himself that only a day ago he was here with Shadow and Silver but this time he was on his own, up against a monster that hid behind the power of the Chaos Emeralds.

Sonic found himself in front of a grand throne room with a golden chair in the front of it. On the chair with a head in their hand and their legs crossed was Nazo himself. Except, instead of the traditional robe he had worn last time Sonic met him, this time he wore shimmering white armor.

"You're late, Sonic the hedgehog." Nazo said flatly.

Sonic grinned. "I'm never late, just fashionably on time!"

Nazo sighed, shaking his head as he stood up. His armor clinked at he did so. "I see the future and today you will die."

"Well that doesn't explain why you sent Team Moon after me." Sonic said dryly. "They came with different repots, Nazo. You're scared of me."

"Lies!" Nazo hissed, pulling out his harsh white sword. "I will kill you!"

"Do your best, Nazo!" Sonic grinned, pulling out his sword and lifting it up. He pulled the rim of his cowboy hat low over his face and watched as Nazo put on a triangle shaped helmet, the same color as his armor.

Nazo lifted a sword. "Prepare to die!"

"After you!" Sonic said mockingly.

Both lunged at each other and their swords collided, resulting a large _clang_! That echoed throughout the entire castle.

-XXXXXXXX-

"Ah, Tails!" Zap said as he saw the fox drop down on a rooftop and pull out a small sword. "How good it is to see you…"

Tails rolled his eyes. "I have my weapons, a sword, and a robotic dragon. I wouldn't be talking if I were you, Zap."

"Come on Tails," Zap said seriously, his dark eyes narrowing. "Come back to our side. We could use a soul like you to take out Nazo and return this kingdom to its rightful position."

Tails glared at Zap. "No! Nazo has been kinder to me then you have _ever_ been! I will get you Zap, you hear me? I will _get_ you."

Zap raised an eyebrow, looking unimpressed. "Intimidating. Really intimidating."

"See? Its things like that that explains _why_ I am not on your side!" Tails growled. "You have never been nice to me!"

"I'm sorry Tails! But you were hard for me to teach, I was never supposed to be a teacher in the first place!" Zap called.

"It's too late for 'sorry's…" Tails growled and he pressed a button on a remote, resulting in the entire castle shaking again. Tails spun his tails and flew off into the sky again, leaving Zap feeling like his words had fallen on empty ears. He growled angrily and thrust his sword through an enemy knight without looking.

"ZAP!" Windy called behind him and the Light Giver turned around, disappeared, and reappeared next to Windy as she looked at him.

"Well? What did Tails say?"

"My words were practically useless to him." Zap muttered.

Windy frowned and rubbed the top of his head with a sad smile. "At least you tried your best, Zappy."

Zap smiled faintly and the two shared a moment of smiles before charging off into battle again.

The castle grounds continued to tremble and Blaze found herself back to back with a very annoyed Flame. Flame looked back at Blaze. "Didn't that robotic dragon appear last time the ground shook like this?"

Blaze nodded. "Yes! But it can't mean there could be another one! Tails forced it to self destruct!"

Flame frowned and then her ears twitched and she glanced up into the sky before letting out a gasp. She turned back, glared at Blaze, and pointed to the sky. "Then what is _that_?!"

Blaze looked up and took a startled step back. "Impossible…!"

In the sky, circling in a circle high above was _another_ metal dragon. It let out a trembling roar down on all of them, causing everyone to look to the sky for a moment. Flame cursed and turned to Blaze. "We need to get rid of that dragon!"

Blaze nodded and noticed Silver get hit in the face and fall to the ground. "Silver!" She cried and then ran towards him, totally ditching Flame.

Flame scowled and Strife appeared out of the darkness next to her. She turned to him, looking very annoyed. "We need to get rid of that dragon."

Strife looked up at the dragon and then back at Flame. "Got any ideas you might be implying?"

Flame smirked.

-XXXXXXXX-

"Come on people, this way!" Espio called to the civilians as hundreds of them formed a line and all of them scrambled across the board to reach Espio. Xerius was on the other side, the side inside the city, keeping back the guards and helping people onto the wooden board.

"Keep up the good work, Xerius!" Espio called.

Xerius' ears twitched but didn't look back as he punched a guard in the face, knocking it back and pulled out his gun, shooting another guard before turning around and helping a three-year-old girl onto the board.

"Thank you, sir!" The little girl thanked Xerius and Xerius smiled as she started walking slowly across the large board with her mother's help.

Espio could only wonder what horrors the civilians here had to suffer through to get enough courage to walk on a narrow board for fifty feet to reach the other side. He helped a skinny old Mobian dog stumble off of the board and out to the world of freedom with the rest of his family.

"I'm free!" The dog cried, waving his wooden cane in the air wildly.

"Grandpa Tanner!" A small, tan colored dog complained. "You're embarrassing me again!"

Espio cracked a smile and looked over at Xerius, wishing he could somehow help the warrior as he shot another guard.

The chameleon looked upwards to the sky where he noticed they were getting darker. He frowned and thought of Ocean Rider for a moment but shook his head, he was sure they were fine. Xsus was probably doing a great job.

He hoped.

-XXXXXXXX-

Shadow skated in front of Katherine as his sister somehow managed to keep up, her boots smashing on the stone flooring and remains of puddles from the storm that came through here a day ago.

"Are we there yet?" Katherine called to her brother.

"No." Was her brother's blunt reply.

Katherine rolled her eyes, thinking about how grateful she was Nazo or Sonic didn't notice them sneak through the open window and behind the throne, then heading downstairs to the depths of the castle. Nazo and Sonic had been too involved in their swordfight to even notice their presence.

Shadow took a sharp turn and Katherine followed him. She looked at the empty cells around her… except they weren't _entirely_ empty. A few held skeletons and others held dead men, which explained the terrible smell down here.

Shadow took another sharp turn and then slid to a stop before a wooden door with many locks, chains, and other items stacked in front of it. Shadow frowned and looked at Katherine, who nodded. The hedgehog conjured up a Chaos Spear, which knocked the door down.

"Here should be perfect." Shadow said, walking into the room first and looking around. The dark room was difficult for his crimson eyes to adjust to and he could hear Katherine move up next to him, close enough for their fur to touch.

"Alright good, you stay here while I go pick up one of Tails' never ending torches so we can light the dynamite." Katherine said. She turned around and left the way she came, leaving Shadow alone in the room.

There was a long moment of silence as Shadow stared, seeing nothing in the room but his ears twitched when he heard a sound and he lifted his fists. "Who's there?!" He demanded.

"Shadow…!" A weak voice cried and Shadow recognized it.

"KATHERINE!" He yelled.

Katherine raced back in the room with torch in hand. "Shadow? What?! What happened?! Is everything okay?!"

"Give me the torch."

Katherine handed him the torch, looking confused as her brother walked farther into the cell towards the direction the voice came. He stopped when he found two people before him and Katherine gasped, putting a hand to her mouth.

One of them was hedgehog. She had sad blue eyes and golden fur and long quills that glowed in the torch's light. She wore a long, colorful robe that looked very Indian like. She had red streaks of paint underneath her eyes and strange Indian beads in her hair along with multiple necklaces with different animals and beads on each necklace. She looked up at Shadow with her blue eyes and Shadow took a step back until his eyes dropped down to the half dead person the hedgehog was sitting next to.

"Tikal!" Shadow gasped as he bent down to see her better. Katherine ran up and sat down next to Shadow, staring at the Echidna worriedly. Tikal's eyes were dim, as if she gave up hope on living. She was covered with scratches and dried blood was on her pale red skin. She licked her dry lips and let out the deadest moan the trio had ever heard in their lives.

"Are you okay?!" Katherine demanded.

Tikal moaned and lifted a hand out towards them. "Shadow… Katherine… help… me… please…!"

Shadow glared at the hedgehog. "Did you do this?!"

The hedgehog shook her head. "I would never do such a thing to my fellow prisoner. We both suffered through many things."

"And who might you be?" Katherine raised an eyebrow.

The hedgehog looked at her seriously. "I am known as Maria, Princess Maria of the northern Indian Tribe."

**Flame "Okay, its over. Let's go get Scourge!"**

**Strife "I don't even think he's in this dimension."**

**Flame *scowls* "Then what are we going to do?"**

**Fengari *pulls out the rulebook and waves it at them***

***Flame and Strife glance at each other with dark grins***

**Me "Oh no! Not in the house! You know how hard it was explaining to my mother about who broke the vase last time?"**

**Team Moon *scowls***

**Me "Anyways, hope you liked the long chapter and please do review, follow, and/or favorite!"**


	15. Chapter 15

**TWO CHAPTERS LEFT! :O**

**Anyways, hello people! Welcome to Chapter Fifteen of the story! Thanks for staying this long with me people and special thanks for keeping this story alive and going! So, special, special, thanks goes to the ones who reviewed: Chaosthehedgehog, UnknownFollower, Amicus, BlackStormNomad, Strife the Dark 152, raeweis, and Maraya Prower.**

**Chaosthehedgehog= *applause* That was amazing! I do have one question though, if Chaos went back to Katherine's dimension what's he doing with Shadow in the end…? Juuuust wondering. Besides that though, it was amazing and I felt like crying at the end… In my next story (The Return) they have a reference of Chaos in it so I bet you're looking forward to that.  
Katherine "Chaos, let's be grateful Sierra has an interest in someone and isn't trying to kill us. She **_**is**_** *cough cough, in a weird way, cough* our sister too."**

**UnknownFollower= Yes! Surprised the readers again! Why won't your parents let you register? They have to have **_**some**_** good reason not to let you make an account… still it's good that you're reviewing, at least it's showing them you have interest in joining and it might talk your parents into letting you make an account… but I don't know. You didn't hear that from me *grins*. And about your Scourge and Fiona comment… Fiona's going down first *evil grin*.**

**Amicus= Yes they are :D  
Yeah… Shadow and Katherine with dynamite. Scary thought… *on a loudspeaker* "All OCs move to the nearest exit…!"  
Shadow *scowls*  
Katherine *glares* "Not funny, BlackSandHeart."**

**BlackStormNomad= Twin Name Pal! Aw… your sisters sound terrible… jerks. Shouldn't make a person like you cry, humph. Anyways, yay! MARIA! I loved writing about her in all my stories so here she is again…  
Katherine "It was an accident! I heard a sound, opened the door, and threw the lamp!"  
Shadow "Accident…? Riiiight…"  
Katherine *scowls* "Shadow!"  
Xerius *forces himself to quit staring in shock at Robyn and looks at Braelyn* **_**"Impressive. Even if you're not meant to hold a bow and arrows it was still a nice shot."  
**_**Xsus "Are you kidding?! YEAH!"**

**Strife the Dark 152= Fengari… is about to pop up in the next couple of paragraphs or so. Don't worry, he'll show up with his knives blazing.  
Flame *scowls* "You better not!"**

**Raeweis= You're back! I was wondering what happened to you… anyways, glad you're back and I'm glad you're liking the story :D**

**Maraya Prower= I wish Scourge was in here… he would've made the story so much bleaker and a lot more dangerous… hmm… new story idea! XD So you're most like Tikal huh? Cool! I always thought she was a fun character.  
Zap "Run Tails! You remember how she was like my literal shadow in Day of the Dead!"  
Windy *smacks him on the side of the head* "Be nice! Don't be jealous that she's going to follow Tails around."  
Zap "Wait, what?!"**

**DISCLAIMER= **_**Strife and Fengari belong to Strife the Dark 152 and are in the story Sonic the Hedgehog: the Darkness Incarnate.**_** I just own the Dimension Jumpers, the plot, the extra characters, and the land of Darrius. ****SEGA owns everything else.**

**Chapter Fifteen=**

"W-What?!" Katherine gasped as Princess Maria sat on the ground with a half dead Tikal in her arms. Shadow, who stood next to her, didn't look any less surprised.

Princess Maria looked up at them seriously. "My tribe is known for their special ways and gifts. I received a few gifts that are especially pure, the ability to stop time around someone and to be able to see into the future along with creating all seeing glass balls."

"That's how Nazo stayed alive for all these years… he forced you and himself to stay young, didn't he?" Katherine asked seriously, seeming to get over some of her shock that she was talking to an Indian princess.

"And the all seeing glass ball is how Nazo seems to know everything that's going on," Shadow growled. "So after all these years, who would've known that he was just a simple old king without an Indian princess."

"Yes…" Maria nodded her head sadly. "And he also demanded for things I could see in the future. He asked me what would kill him and I told him a blue hedgehog, so the king sent Team Moon after the hedgehog to kill them but it only sealed his fate."

Shadow frowned. "So that's why Team Moon went after Sonic…"

Maria nodded and her eyes watered for a moment. "It's my entire fault this is happening. If I have never existed then this would have never happened!"

Katherine reached out and put a hand on top of Maria's own hand. The two shared eye contact and Katherine smiled. "It's not your fault. You did what you could in order to live."

"But…!"

"She's right." Shadow nodded. "If it wasn't for you I probably would never be here today and would have never met the people I have today."

Maria lowered her eyes onto Tikal as she let out a long, shaky breath. "If… if you say so… but enough about me. We need to get this one out of here. I suppose Xerius gave you dynamite, am I correct?"

"How did you… oh yeah. Yes, yes he did." Katherine said, pulling a stick of dynamite out of her pocket.

Maria looked at the stick and nodded. Her blue eyes narrowed as she slowly made sure Tikal was comfortable on the ground and then stood, standing the same height as Katherine and Shadow. "Alright, let us begin."

-XXXXXXXX-

"Take this!" Sonic growled as he lifted a hand towards Nazo. Sonic's sword was impaled in the wall on the other side of the room after Nazo knocked it out of his hands and the silvery hedgehog was now charging towards him. In Sonic's _other_ hand, he held the light blue Chaos Emerald Rouge got from Shade's sword.

"CHAOS CONTROL!" Sonic yelled and a blast of energy shot out of his palm and smacked Nazo in the face, stopping his charge short.

The silvery blue hedgehog flew into the air, flipped a few times, and crashed into the ground hard, his helmet flying off his head. Sonic took this as an opportunity and ran at full speed, grabbing and pulling his sword out of the wall then facing Nazo as he struggled to his feet.

"How… how dare you!" Nazo growled, putting a hand on his shoulder and glaring at Sonic with a look of pure hatred.

"You deserve this! You've tortured hundreds of people! And besides, you're way overdue with a visit with the dead." Sonic growled.

Nazo sneered. "You think you're so tough? You think you can stop me?"

"No, but I _know_ I can!" The blue blur said boldly, showing a thumbs up.

Nazo flew at Sonic again, sword raised and letting out a battle cry. Sonic charged forward, raising his sword and the two sliced at each other before flying around the room slashing and hacking at each other with their swords.

They seemed to vanish and reappear into the air, slicing, missing, disappearing, reappearing. It was almost like they were dancing because of how fast the two of them moved.

Sonic jumped into the air, planning on landing on top of Nazo and ending this fight as he sliced down, but the silvery hedgehog rolled out of the way; except, Sonic did manage to slice off the top of Nazo's throne, resulting in Nazo letting out a furious cry and charging again.

"You… little… annoying… hedgehog!" Nazo roared.

Sonic didn't like the feel of chaos energy that was in the room, it was like he was standing in the dead center of the storm with the storm getting ready to throw everything it could produce at him. He dodged Nazo's blows but was nervously noticing his blows getting faster… and more accurate.

Sonic jumped backwards and ducked as Nazo jabbed at him and then swung. The blue blur rolled out of the way and jumped to his feet as Nazo sliced downwards. Now it seemed that only Nazo was doing all the fancy sword moves with Sonic running for his dear life to avoid being chopped to pieces.

Sonic gritted his teeth. _If something doesn't change soon, I'm done for!_ He thought to himself angrily and then dived to the ground as Nazo sliced at him once more.

-XXXXXXXX-

"This way, this way," Flame called to the hedgehog and wolf that followed her as she ran silently across the rooftops. The large metal dragon swooped around high above them, occasionally spitting out a mechanical fireball that made her wonder how Tails found time to build such a thing.

"How are we going to get on top of it from way down here?" Strife asked as they slid to a stop on one of the rooftops, staring up at the metal beast.

"That… I'm still thinking about." Flame admitted, looking a little annoyed that she was admitting this.

Fengari frowned as he looked up at the dragon. He tapped his eye patch thoughtfully, a habit Fengari formed the day he lost his eye. "There is one idea I have… and I'm sure both you and Strife are going to enjoy it very much."

Flame and Strife glanced over at him, confused.

Fengari frowned, still looking thoughtful. "How about you mess around with it, make it angry, so it lures it down here?"

"How do you get a robot angry?" Flame wondered.

"How does Tails invent a giant robotic, fire breathing dragon? I don't know, Flame." Strife snickered.

Flame glared at Strife and she conjured up a dark ball of energy before throwing it with all her might upwards at the dragon… and missed.

"Gah… still can't throw upwards well." Flame cursed while Strife aimed his cutlass, and spun it up at the dragon like a boomerang. The sword bounced off the dragon's head and then fell towards them. Strife reached out and caught his sword as the metal beast turned towards the trio, its blue, robotic eyes glowing.

"Down here!" Flame called, waving her hands. When the dragon started looking away again, Flame threw another ball of dark energy and this time it smacked the dragon hard on the side of the head.

"Excuse me! I'm talking to you, metal head!" Flame called up. The dragon looked at her, and if robotic dragons could look irritated, this one did. "Yeah that's right, you with the dented face." Flame taunted.

The dragon roared at them, now it was mad.

"The wonderment of how you two can tick off anything." Fengari said thoughtfully as he looked up at the dragon.

Strife shrugged. "It's a gift."

"Bet you are too much of a chicken to come down and _deal_ with your problems, like the ones that smack you in the face!" Flame called up to the dragon as it seemed to glare down at her. "Yeah that's right, you flap your little poultry wings and breathe out small candle flames!"

"Flame, I think it's mad enough." Strife said as the dragon started floating down towards them.

Flame sighed. "Aw, what? But I'm getting warmed up. One more insult… please?"

Strife shrugged. "Since you said please..."

Flame showed a dark grin as she glanced back up at the dragon. "By the way, I've seen pigeons that fly faster than you!"

The dragon lunged at the three of them, far too angry to even care that it smacked into a house as Flame, Strife, and Fengari hopped into the air and landed on the dragon's long, slender neck. Strife was in the front, Flame middle, and Fengari held the rear as the dragon itself reared upwards, almost throwing all three off.

"What's the plan?" Fengari called as the beast took to the sky again, not seeming to notice the stowaways on its back.

Strife glanced back at the crew, his knuckles almost white from gripping the chinks in the metal hard to avoid falling off as it suddenly stopped in midair. "How about try to stay on!"

Flame grabbed the metal chinks as the dragon spun around in circles in the air, like a dog chasing its tail. She closed her eyes tightly to avoid getting sick. "I like that plan!" She called to Strife while Fengari grabbed onto the metal too.

"If there was some way we could control it…!" Strife said thoughtfully and stopped short when the dragon fell headfirst towards the ground.

"Someone stop the metal head from falling to the ground!" Flame shrieked as she slipped down and crashed into Strife. The hedgehog glanced back at her, at the ground, and then to the left where he saw Tails holding a small remote and was glaring at them.

"There!" Fengari said, seeing Tails the same time Strife did.

"He's controlling the robot!" Strife said as the realization hit him. "He's going to make it self destruct with us on it!"

Flame tried to push herself away from Strife to give him some room but to no prevail as the dragon fell even faster. Strife grabbed onto Flame and Fengari put a hand on Flame's shoulder as Strife started thinking frantically. Maybe… just maybe… he could use some type of force to get them out of here…

No time left to think, the ground was way too close. "Let go!" Strife called and Team Moon let go of the dragon and shot up into the air, since they all weighed lighter than a metal dragon.

Flame straightened out her arms. "We're about a good fifty feet from the ground… you know that right?"

Strife glanced at her. "What's with you and falling off things lately?"

"Oh pardon me, the tower, the dragon, I don't know why, it just happens!" Flame snapped.

"Heads up!" Fengari called as the dragon crashed into the ground and sent hundreds of guards, which were gathering and waiting for them to hit the ground, to fly backwards like ragdolls.

"I got this!" Flame grabbed onto Strife's hand and Strife grabbed onto Fengari's arm as she used a blast of black energy to stop their fall and steer the team safely to the right and onto a rooftop as the dragon made a robotic groaning sound on the ground.

"Well…" Strife said, breathing heavily as the rush of adrenaline that coursed through his veins started to end. "That… was interesting!"'

Flame nodded, also panting and Fengari looked back suddenly. "Hey… wait a second!"

Flame and Strife spun around and saw what Fengari was looking at. All three's eyes narrowed when they saw an Echidna pale and start running across the rooftops. "It's the queen!" Strife growled angrily.

"After her!" Flame called and the three charged after the retreating Echidna.

-XXXXXXXX-

Xsus lifted his cowboy hat off his head and frowned at the dark clouds moving towards the town of Ocean Rider- _his_ town… at least for the next few hours until Espio came back. Cream stood nervously next to him, also watching the midnight black clouds.

"Sir Xsus…" Cream whispered quietly. "What's going on?"

"Call me Xsus, little lady…" Xsus winked at her and turned his attention towards the clouds. "And I don't know what those clouds are… but they look like trouble."

Cream whimpered and Xsus glanced back at Charmy who was sweeping off the vacant Sheriff house's porch with a broom that was twice his size. "Charmy!" He called and the bee froze, looking up at him while his small wings buzzed frantically to keep him afloat.

"Yes Sheriff?" Charmy grinned. Xsus and Charmy had been friends in this world since they were babies and the two would always joke about Xsus one day being the sheriff and Charmy being his awesome assistant… which was now the case and both boys were enjoying the moment.

"I need a report on those clouds and a gallon of ice cream, stat!" Xsus called and Charmy saluted before flying off to find the others and get a gallon of ice cream while he was at it.

"Ice cream? Why do you need ice cream?" Cream wondered as Xsus walked towards the front of the town and towards the storm. He grabbed a bucket full of water on his way out and continued his walk with Cream beside him.

"I don't know, I just love the stuff!" Xsus grinned at her. "It's so yummy and… and… tasty and it can make anyone smile on a sad day!"

Cream frowned. "I don't think I've ever tried this 'ice cream' before."

Xsus' eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "You… duh… what?!"

Cream blushed. "I've never tried any before…"

If possible, Xsus' eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. He shook his head after a moment, forcing himself back together. "Um… right… okay… you're going to have to try some soon, you hear me, missy?"

"Yes sir…" Cream frowned, had she said something wrong?

Xsus smiled at her. "Good!" By now, the two were at the entrance of the town and were staring into the face of the storm.

A blast of cool wind blew back Xsus' ears and forced him to blink in surprise. Cream took a nervous step back and behind them, Charmy flew forward along with the others in his town that could still fight: Vector, Cosmo, Savanna, and Amy. "Sheriff, I got everyone… but I have some bad news, we're outta ice cream!"

Xsus frowned and resisted cursing. Things were getting messy already.

"This is a mighty big storm here, Sheriff." Savanna said nervously. "What do you reckon we should do about it?"

Xsus' frown grew and looked up at the sky. "We see what it wants."

"Excuse me?" Amy said with a frown. "What does that mean?"

"Xerius told me that some things can't be demanded out of people or things. You have to wait for time to erase the things that block the answers." Xsus said quietly, his blue eyes absorbing every detail of the clouds above him.

The others frowned when a sudden flash of lightning shot down from the sky and struck the ground. There was a moment of silence until the ground started to tremble. Xsus lifted his fists and the bucket of water next to him started to shake like a leaf as the others looked around next to him, looking worried.

Then, out of the ground, a deranged hand shot out and slowly pulled itself out of the ground, revealing a… dead knight in shining black armor? More lightning strikes, the ground trembled more, and more undead knights pulled themselves out the ground with different armor, some carrying swords or other weapons. Their eyes glowed with a pale blue color through the slits in their helmets and Xsus found himself gaping... and trembling.

"Prepare for battle!" Xsus cried, snapping himself out of his shock and shaking his head, even though his voice trembled with fear. As the others turned and ran back to the town to get weapons Xsus frowned to himself. "Wowa, undead knights! Talk about unexpected!" He said to himself with a laugh. "Wait 'till Xerius heard about _this_!"

The knights stumbled towards the town, some falling and dragging themselves forward instead, others randomly crumbling to dust. Xsus couldn't help but feel his entire body shaking in fear at the sight. This was just _wrong_. Flat out wrong.

Xsus lifted a hand and the water floated out of the bucket, slowly forming into a water whip three feet long in the air before him. "Dare to challenge the hydrokenisis?" He muttered, more to himself then to the dead knights.

Vector, Amy, Cream, Charmy, and Cosmo came back with their own variety of weapons. Vector held a mace in his hands with a confident grin, Amy held a large, metal hammer, Cream was holding a large, heavy ball normally used to entertain horses, Charmy held a pair of guns he got from who knows where, and Cosmo held a guarding rake defiantly.

Xsus grinned back at them as they smiled back at him. "Is everyone ready?"

"Ready," Cosmo said while the rest nodded their heads nervously.

"For Ocean Rider!" Xsus lifted a fist into the air, causing the water to float upwards too and the small group charged.

-XXXXXXXX-

"Fifty-three!" Chase said with a confident grin, smashing the helmet of an enemy knights into his skull. He did a back flip over another knight, pulled out his guns and shot a few more enemies.

"Fifty-eight! Hurry up, slowpoke!" Knuckles taunted as he punched another knight with the brass knuckles he was wearing. "Fifty-nine!"

"Ha! You guys are so far behind!" Windy smirked as she appeared out of thin air next to the duo. "One hundred and nine!"

"What?! When were you in this competition?" Chase demanded. "Besides… I bet you I could catch up to you easy!"

"Oh really?" Windy smirked.

"Really!"

"Heads up!" Zap called, appearing and then all of them ducked to the ground as Silver used his telekenisis to throw a knight over their heads. Zap turned to Windy. "Are you okay?"

Windy smiled. "Just fine… showing these boys who's boss though."

Chase growled. "You're anything _but_!"

"Hey!" Zap gave him a look.

Chase found himself unsure what to do at such a look but managed to lift a fist angrily. "Oh come on, we're wasting time here, let's keep fighting these baddies and take Nazo out!"

Without looking, Knuckles lifted a fist and punched another knight with a grin. "Sixty."

Chase glared at him and then kicked another guard. "Fifty-four."

The fight was on again with everyone swinging, punching, shooting, practically everything they had at the enemies before them.

…until Rouge got fell to the ground.

"Ow!" Rouge cried as the guard lifted a sword above her head, planning on slicing her in half. Rouge felt her heart stop beating as she realized this was it. She was going to die unless something very convenient happened.

Suddenly, gunfire, and the guard froze with a bullet hole in his chest… then fell over dead. Rouge sat up as the guard crashed into the ground next to her and her face lit up like a birthday candle when she saw Xerius holding a smoking gun in his hands with a death look in his eyes. _Well,_ Rouge thought._ That's convenient._

"Oh Xie!" Rouge cried. She jumped to her feet, ran over and hugged him tightly. "You saved me! How can I ever repay you?"

Xerius raised an eyebrow and smirked.

Rouge sighed. "Alright, alright, I'll quit stealing the gems you keep finding in the Forest of Shame. How did you find out about that anyways?"

Xerius gave her a look and Rouge rolled her eyes. "Okay, okay, Mr. Silent, I'll be more careful next time I sneak into your room. Did you save the people?"

Xerius nodded. _"Espio and I managed to get all of them out- we think. At least all the ones that are in the way of battle."_

Rouge smiled. "Good job, Xie… do you think you can handle this fight and take care of a defenseless girl like me?"

Xerius gave her a look again. _"You're anything _but_ defenseless, Rouge."_

Rouge rolled her eyes. "Alright, come on, Xie!"

Xerius extracted his claws and the two dived back into battle with the others. Although… in the back of his mind, Xerius couldn't help but worry for the safety of Katherine and Shadow… the dynamite was famously known to explode faster than it was supposed to…

**Dun dun! Okay, thanks for reading people and hope you'd enjoyed the story!**

**Katherine "And don't forget to review!"**

**Chaos (Chaos belongs to Chaosthehedgehog) *shrugs* "Or we'll just have to hunt you down and…"**

**Katherine *scowls* "Chaos!"**

**Chaos *grins sheepishly* "Sorry…"**


	16. Chapter 16

**Me *runs into the room* "Look, look, look!"**

**Windy *looks up from a book* "Uh-oh."**

**Me "Take a look at **_**this**_**!" *shows her a picture***

**Windy *blinks slowly* "Did… you draw that? That's actually pretty good."**

**Me *smiles proudly* "Yep!" *turns onto Katherine* "Ha! Now who's the worst artist?"**

**Katherine *scowls* "Knew that was coming back to haunt me."**

**Me "Anyways, thanks to the following reviewers for reviewing: Amicus, Maraya Prower, Chaosthehedgehog, raeweis, BlackStormNomad, Strife the Dark 152, and UnknownFollower!"**

**Amicus= You are truly a friend, Amicus, for reviewing this much and for so long :) Thanks so much… anyways, yeah Flame vs. a dragon (haha, Flame won) and Vector with a mace… just flipping amazing. So, Windy's winning the ninja contest for this go…?  
Windy *smirks* "Win…"**

**Maraya Prower= Hmm… will Sonic win or die…? You must stay tuned…! Anyways, what the heck is barklava?! It sounds amazing though… and yes. Charmy got a gun… but then again Xsus was going to have ice cream so I don't know who would've been worse in that situation. Alright, I won't tell you if the story is going to end or not in the next one, don't worry haha ;)  
Windy "She has a point. And you hurt her feelings. Smoooth."  
Zap "Wha-?! Windy! She's smirking in the corner over there…!"  
Windy *Xerius style look*  
Zap *scowls* "Humph… sorry. You've been hanging out with Xerius too much, Windy."**

**Chaos= You fixed it up so Maria became a hedgehog- haha works just as well, friend! Anyways, don't worry about clogging up the reviews- the people that are snooping around in there will just have to live with it haha, but I am having a hard time finding the one where you told me what Chaos looks like so if you could tell me again… haha thanks. Anyways, yeah! Go ahead and write up the next story to that, I'm sure you'll do just as good! Glad you liked Cream's innocent part… everyone needs innocence in a story every now and again. Haha, and for your comment on Dimension Jumpers, I did purposly try to end it like that... I couldn't think of a better ending than that.  
Katherine "Chaos… you're going to lose."  
Chaos *scowls* "Never!"  
Shadow *sighs* "…..."**

**Raeweis= You're back again! :D Anyways, yeah I think we're all secretly hoping Katherine and Shadow don't kill themselves… or do anything stupid *cough, Katherine's Tale, cough*.**

**BlackStormNomad TNP! XD Anyways, if you write them in stories you can have them be the bad guys and so your characters can pound them in the head… you're not getting these ideas from me haha.  
So, yeah! Go ahead and use my characters in that amazing story, as long as you put a disclaimer on them and I'll do the same when I borrow your characters! I'll probably PM you when one of your characters plan to show up in my book(s) and you can PM me if you got any questions on any of mine :D Glad you liked the Flame vs. Metal Headed Dragon part… it made me laugh too… lol  
Xerius **_**"You lived with elves? That is quite impressive… Xsus?! What are you doing?!"  
**_**Xsus *swallows his fifty-ninth spoon full of ice cream (was having a contest with Kelly) and looks at Xerius* "Uh… nothing…?"  
Xerius *scowls*  
Shadow "Pardon me for falling out of artificial trees…!"  
Katherine "You're pardoned!"  
Shadow "At least I wasn't the one making owl sounds…"  
Katherine "Shadow! We've had this argument before!"  
Oh, Robyn, don't get mad at Zap or Windy at the beginning… Tails **_**is**_** a bad guy…  
Zap *pales* "Wait, what do I do?!"**

**Strife the Dark 152= Yes, fight scene! And more to come…  
Flame "That's just me getting revenge on you for not letting me intimidate Shade, Strife… and Fengari, don't drool on the carpet. I lost a bet with Sierra and had to clean them this morning…"**

**UnknownFollower=1. Psh, yeah undead knights, I always had a thing for the dead… not in a creepy way though. Anyways, yeah, Sonic has to be a good sword fighter in this story in order to have at least a chance against Nazo. 2. Gah, never liked Fiona and she hangs out with Scourge (hate him too) both can die and I'd laugh. 3. How can a computer possibly break…? Eh, whatever, hopefully you can get an account when you get your computer!**

**DISCLAIMER= ****Strife the Dark 152 owns the characters Strife and Fengari and are in the story: Sonic the Hedgehog: the Darkness Incarnate (so go read it!). **_**I just own the Dimension Jumpers, the plot, and the world of Darrius. **_**SEGA has copyright of the characters that it owns (Sonic, Amy, Silver, Shadow, etc.).**

**Chapter Sixteen=**

Zap smashed Tails into the ground and growled threatening at him as he tied the fox's hands behind his back. Tail struggled uselessly while Windy crossed her arms and watched the two, a frown on her face.

"Careful Zap!" Windy said angrily when Tails let out a cry of pain. Zap froze and looked at her, dark blue eyes flashing like lightning for a moment.

Zap took a deep breath and handed the ropes to Windy while Tails struggled like a wild animal underneath him. "You tie him up. I'm going to hurt him if I do it, as you can see."

Windy took the ropes, glaring at him, and gently, but firmly, tied Tails' hands behind his back. The two were in an alleyway and after the metal dragon with Team Moon on it crashed into the ground, Zap tackled Tails to where they were tying him up now so they wouldn't have to worry about the evil kitsune killing anyone anymore.

"You can't stop me!" Tails cried to them. "I'm unstoppable!"

Windy said nothing and tied Tails' bindings to a nearby pipe drain used for rainwater to stop him from running off. "This is for your own good, Tails." Windy muttered.

Zap shook his head angrily, his arms crossed.

Windy stood up and walked away from Tails as he yelled out a string of insults at them, his blue eyes blazing with fury and pain. Zap lowered his eyes as Windy walked past him. "I'm sorry, Tails." He muttered before walking after Windy.

"I'll never forgive you, Zap! You hear me? NEVER!"

Zap looked crestfallen as soon as he was out and Windy put a hand on his shoulder. "You did the best you could… and at least you said sorry."

Zap sighed and took out his sword. "Let's talk about this later, alright?"

"Fine by me." Windy shrugged, pulling out her sword. "But it's true. Don't dwell on the past for long. It's time we all moved on."

Zap nodded as both charged out of the alleyway and back into battle with the others.

"Where have you been?" Silver demanded to Zap as he appeared in front of him and sliced at an enemy guard, his head flew off and Zap glanced at Silver the hedgehog.

"Around," Zap said flatly and then ran off as Windy came forward.

"He's struggling, don't worry about it." Windy said to him. "Have you seen Katherine and Shadow yet?"

Silver shook his head. "I was going to ask you the same thing, they've been gone for a bit too long for it to be a good thing."

Windy nodded, looking thoughtful. "They have to be in the castle still. I want to go find them but it might not be a good idea, especially with dynamite."

_"Besides… that stuff is more dangerous than you can understand. It's best we just let them do their job." _The telepathic voice of Xerius said. The silent warrior suddenly appeared out of thin air and punched a guard in the face, his claws going right through the metal. He pulled his claws out of the dead guard and turned to the others as Rouge floated down next to him.

"Still," Silver frowned. "I can't help but worry."

Rouge winked. "I'm sure they're fine, Silver, I wouldn't worry about them much if I were you. Shadow and Katherine _are_ siblings."

Silver sighed. "Alright…" He turned and charged back into battle, leaving Windy, Rouge, and Xerius by themselves.

Windy turned to Xerius. "What did you find?"

Xerius scowled. _"Knuckles is down… but I'm not sure if he's dead. I can't locate the others very well so I'm not positive. But I did see Espio and Jason are managing to hold off an area in the northern section but there's not many guards left in general. They've either ran off or dead."_

"Anything else?"

_"Yes. Team Moon is in some serious trouble."_

"They are? How do you know?" Windy scowled.

_"Hm… let's just say that I know Queen Shade isn't exactly kind to the people that follow her. I've met her in some previous battles with Espio before."_ Xerius said and Rouge spun around, kicking a guard that tried sneaking up on them.

Windy glanced around, noticing the area they were in was now empty of guards and she didn't see anyone else from her team anywhere. She nodded towards Xerius. "Let's find the others and see if the assassin team is still around when we get to them."

Xerius dipped his head and Rouge put a hand on her hip. "Are you sure it's a good idea to help out a bunch of assassins?"

"Sure it is, they did help us get in here the first time and they saved our friends lives when they were trapped in here." Windy said seriously then spun around, and marched off, holding her sword tightly.

-XXXXXXXX-

Strife led his team after the retreating queen as she slid through the alleyways, leading them farther and farther away from the others who were still fighting the guards.

A few more twists and turns and they slid to a stop when they found Shade standing before them in a town square with a large army of guards behind her. Shade held a glowing sword in her hands and was glaring angrily at the team.

"This _might_ not have been a good idea." Fengari said nervously.

"You think?" Flame said sarcastically.

"So," Shade said seriously. "Team Moon finally comes out of the shadows to reveal themselves as three traitor assassins."

"Psh, assassins don't pick a side. We just kill who we please." Flame grumbled.

"You defied the orders of my king and therefore you must pay the price of death." Shade said seriously to them, lifting her sword as it started glowing purple.

Strife took a step forward and lifted a fist angrily. "It doesn't have to end like this, your highness."

"Oh does it?" Shade sneered. "You disobeyed orders. And that is punishable to the extent of death."

Flame grinned and pulled out a sword made of darkness. "Well then, you will first handedly see _why_ we are the best assassins in all of Darrius!"

Strife pulled out his cutlass and Fengari pulled out his Fangs of the Moon and all three stood before the army before them.

Shade lifted her sword towards them. "ATTACK!"

Team Moon and the guards charged at each other at full speed.

-XXXXXXX-

"You're finished!" Nazo growled as he kicked Sonic's sword out of his hands. The blue hedgehog could only watch with big eyes as his sword flew off and Nazo pointed his sword at Sonic's neck. "I will kill you here and now and there's nothing you can do about it."

Sonic nervously watched the sword as it pointed closer to his face. For some random reason, Sierra's face flashed through his mind. He smirked at Nazo. "So you just think you're going to kill me? Just like that?"

"I don't think so, I _know_ so!"

Sonic swallowed nervously and looked at Nazo's sword and realized why it was glowing so brightly. The sword had chaos energy running through it which had to mean… the purple Chaos Emerald! The second to last Chaos Emerald! The blue blur glanced around and saw another sword Nazo had by his throne glowing with red energy and he smirked. And there was the last emerald! He had all seven within reach.

"The tables are turned now, Nazo!" Sonic growled, grinning darkly.

"What do you mean, insolent fool? You're going to die and there's nothing you can do about it. How can the tables _possibly_ be turned now?" Nazo demanded as Sonic closed his eyes and concentrated. The other five emeralds Sonic had been keeping with him for safe keeping appeared and started surrounding the duo, spinning at impossible speeds.

"Chaos… Control!" Sonic yelled and the entire throne room suddenly filled with a bright white light.

"What…?! NO!" Nazo cried, covering his eyes and flinching at the bright light.

The light finally faded and when Nazo opened his eyes again, he gasped when he saw in the place of Sonic the hedgehog was a glowing gold hedgehog without a cowboy hat. Sonic smirked at Nazo and grabbed his sword, then in a quick move, bended the metal backwards towards Nazo like it was made of play dough, resulting in the evil king dropping his sword in shock.

"No…! No! This is what Princess Maria was warning me about!" Nazo whimpered. "Please have mercy on me, blue hedgehog! I beg you!"

Sonic bent down and pulled the purple Chaos Emerald out of the sword and stared Nazo down seriously. "Many people have suffered because of you. Therefore, you have no right to rule this land anymore!"

Sonic picked up his sword and Nazo looked around frantically, and found the other sword that always sat next to his throne. He ran for it and Sonic watched him run, looking extremely annoyed as Nazo picked up the sword and faced Sonic. "You can _never_ defeat me, blue hedgehog!"

"The name's Sonic. Sonic the hedgehog!" Sonic yelled and he lifted his sword and lunged at Nazo. In one fast movement, as fast as the speed of light, Sonic sliced right through Nazo's sword and drove his sword into Nazo's chest.

Both hedgehogs stared each other down until Nazo let out a stuttered cough, coughing up black liquid. Sonic took a step backwards, removing his sword in surprise as Nazo fell to the ground, black liquid dripping out of his body instead of blood. He dropped his shattered sword and the red Chaos Emerald rolled out of it.

"What the…?" Sonic said quietly as Nazo let out a roar of pain.

"My undead army! TO ME!" Nazo cried. Suddenly, lightning flashed outside and undead knights like the ones that were outside of Ocean Rider appeared, pulling themselves out of the ground. Sonic watched them all with narrowed eyes as Nazo panted. "You… you can't stop me… even if I'm dying I'm taking you down w-with me! Ma-Maria... gave me power over the dead…"

Sonic growled. "Looks like I'm going to have to finish this one up myself!" He spread his hands out and concentrated, dropping his sword onto the ground as he did so. "CHAOS CONTROL!"

Golden light shot out of his hands and all the undead knights exploded into dust. He aimed another hand at Nazo as he growled at him, and the look in Nazo's eyes shone with terror and anger. Another blast of golden light and Nazo exploded into dust…

Sonic looked around and picked up the bent up remains of Nazo's sword and looked to the rooftop high above him. "Looks like I'm out of here!" Sonic said with a grin as he picked up his sword and the red Chaos Emerald with his other hand. He shot into the sky and out the roof, creating a golden glow that shone over the city.

He stayed high in the sky, looking around for his friends but saw them in two groups. One of them, Team Moon, looked like they were in serious trouble and the other group, the rest of his friends except Katherine and Shadow, were running towards the group.

Sonic made a silent decision and flew towards Team Moon, leaving the castle and the memories of the evil King Nazo behind.

-XXXXXXXX-

"Are you ready to do this?" Maria asked as she stared at Katherine with her blue eyes.

Katherine looked at the sticks of dynamite in her hands and then looked up at Maria nervously. "I-I'm ready. Let's do this."

"Be careful," Shadow growled as he gently placed Tikal onto his shoulder. "I don't want to lose my only family left."

Katherine nodded and watched the two start running down the corridor. She held the dangerous sticks tightly in one hand and Tails' never ending torches in the other. She took a deep breath and held the torches next to the small strings until they sparked to life.

"Okay… they're lit!" Katherine cried. She tossed the sticks of dynamite into the dark room that once held Maria and Tikal, then slammed the door shut before running after Shadow, Tikal, and Princess Maria, throwing the torch down on the ground along the way.

The four ran along the hallways, turning through corridors and trying to ignore the terrible smell. After running for less than thirty seconds, they heard an exploding sound and the entire castle started to tremble along with the sound of something snapping.

"It's happening!" Maria gasped. "We have to move faster or else we'll be crushed from the sky!"

"Crushed from the sky?" Katherine glanced up and saw the stone ceiling starting to crack. "This is going to get interesting."

Shadow, with Tikal strung over his shoulder, nodded and his crimson eyes flashed when part of the ceiling collapsed with a bang. The three started jumping around frantically, barely avoiding parts of the ceiling falling from the sky.

"This way!" Katherine called, now in the lead. She took a sharp left and Shadow and Maria ran after her. They continued avoiding pieces of the rooftops by sliding, jumping, ducking, and many other fast techniques.

"Look out!" Shadow yelled and he pulled Katherine back as part of the ceiling fell before them, blocking their escape. If Katherine had continued running, she would've now been crushed by hundreds of tons of rock. The crew turned to run the other way but another large rock blocked the escape that way.

They were trapped.

"No!" Katherine started banging on the rocks that blocked their escape. "No, no, no! We're going to die down here!"

Maria shook her head slowly. "The rocks are going to hit the kitchen soon causing another explosion that will destroy the entire castle. If we do not get out of her by then we will all die for sure."

"We're trapped though!" Shadow growled.

The ground continued to rumble as more pieces of the ceiling started falling on top of them, making a small area of non-falling rock space left. Shadow set Tikal on the ground as the four realized they were trapped down here.

"What do we do?!" Katherine whimpered. "I don't want to be crushed to death. I'd rather go down fighting!"

Maria said nothing, shaking her head but she also looked scared.

Katherine felt tears in her eyes as she bit her lip, shaking her head, and then fell to the ground. Maria sat down and Shadow did as well as the sky rained small chunks of rock on top of them. There was a booming sound and all three glanced up in surprise and fear to see a large chunk of rock falling on them.

Maria and Katherine started screaming and Shadow managed to wrap all three girls in his arms in a sad attempt for a hug as the chunk of rock fell down on top of them.

-XXXXXXXX-

_Five minutes ago…_

"Behind you!" Strife and Flame yelled at each other and both ducked as the guards that were about to stab them stabbed each other instead. The two stood up, looked at each other, and flashed a grin before going back into fighting.

"This is ridiculous, we're never going to stop the queen when she's surrounded by hundreds of guards!" Fengari growled, his two swords slicing frantically in every direction, knocking down enemy after enemy.

"Where is the queen? If we just took her out the army wouldn't know what to do without a leader and would have to surrender." Strife growled.

Flame nodded and looked around, sadly not finding the enemy she was searching for. She ducked when another enemy tried to slice her head off and stood up to counter attack, but was surprised to see he was on the ground dead already.

Flame glanced over and saw Sierra landing on the ground with a gun smoking in her hands. She tucked away the gun, pulled out her sword, and started sword fighting with the others until she reached Team Moon. "Looks like you could use some help!" Sierra called to them.

Flame raised an eyebrow. "What makes you say that?"

Sierra smirked and all four ducked as their enemies all stabbed forward at once, but ended up stabbing each other once again. The fight went on and Sierra glanced back. "The others are on their way to help!"

"Good because we're going to need all the help we can get!" Fengari said.

"We don't need any help!" Flame replied stubbornly.

Fengari looked at Flame for a moment. "It's alright to accept help sometimes, Flame."

Strife grinned at her. "Don't worry, things will still work out fine even with their help!"

Flame actually smiled and nodded for once.

There was a battle cry and the four looked back to see the others charging into battle to help out. They crashed into each other and sliced and hacked furiously, slowly making their way to Team Moon and Sierra.

Sierra grinned. "Here they come!"

"Sierra! Behind you!" Fengari cried, pointing backwards.

The black cat glanced backwards and lifted her sword, barely blocking the move Shade the Echidna had made, aiming to stab her in the heart. The two started sword fighting each other and it took everything Sierra had to avoid Shade slicing her head off.

"You have been _quite_ annoying to me, girl!" Shade growled.

"I haven't done anything to you!" Sierra cried.

"WRONG!" Shade shoved Sierra back, who stumbled and fell down, her blue eyes growing wide in fear as the guards kept her team from coming to her rescue. "The day when your town burned, I was there!"

Sierra paled. "So… it was you who destroyed the town? You killed my family?! My friends?!"

"Oh yes… but that day in Long Ranch when you ran off and I couldn't get you, I swore to get you one day. I've been trying to get to Ocean Rider to destroy that town for years since that day but you've managed to continue living every blasted time!" Shade growled.

"It was you!" Sierra pointed at Shade, her eyes glowing with anger. "How could you?!"

"Because Cowboys destroyed my home once and it was only fair I did so to every town I came across!" Shade growled.

"How could you?!" Sierra had tears dripping down her face, her anger now replaced with misery and shock. "H-how could you? Just because things didn't go the way you wanted them to doesn't mean you can go off and destroy others' homes and lives."

"Why not?"

The tears dripped farther down her face as Sierra continued. "I've learned to forgive the ones who killed my family and friends instead of making it a major issue in my life to get revenge on the ones who destroyed it."

"You insolent brat! You didn't learn a thing from your past! You die here now!" Shade lifted her sword and was about to bring it down onto Sierra's head when the sword froze in mid swing and Sierra flinched, waiting for the moment of death to claim her. However, when nothing happened, she opened her eyes and saw that Shade was looking at something past Sierra and her eyes were wide with fear.

Sierra slowly glanced back and gasped when she saw a glowing gold hedgehog standing behind Sierra. The hedgehog bent down and helped Sierra to her feet gently and flashed a smile at her, helping Sierra know who it was. "Sonic!" She hugged him tightly, burying her face into his golden fur.

"You're the blue hedgehog?!" Shade spat as the entire army froze and stared.

"Nazo is no more. You might as well surrender." Sonic said, showing Shade Nazo's destroyed sword.

Shade gasped. "Nazo! No! My king! My husband…"

"Sorry Shade, looks like your reign ends here." Sonic chuckled.

The guards looked at each other and all of them started running away from the fight now that their king was dead. Sierra held tightly onto Sonic as the other members of his team started going after the guards but Sonic stopped them with a hand. "No, let them go. They're no threat now that Nazo's finished."

Shade gasped quietly and fell to her knees. Windy and Zap were instantly upon her, tying her hands behind her back tightly and the queen didn't even struggle. "But… but… how?"

"Chaos Control, very helpful you know." Sonic flashed a grin.

Suddenly, out of the remaining houses in the city, civilians came out and started cheering enthusiastically. Sonic flashed another grin and concentrated again… then stopped glowing and his fur turned blue again as Sierra smiled at him. "I knew you'd save us." She said quietly to him and she kissed his cheek again.

"Hey…" Silver frowned while everyone cheered. "Where is… Shadow and Katherine?"

The entire crowd stopped cheering as there was the sound of something exploding. All glanced back at Nazo's castle to see a giant ball of fire rise into the sky as the castle fell towards the ground in a huge bang along with the three, tall towers that surrounded it.

Everyone gasped in horror and their eyes widened at the scene.

"Oh no…" Zap said slowly as Windy fell to the ground next to him.

"Katherine!" Silver cried.

"What?" A new, and familiar voice said.

Everyone glanced back in surprise and saw Shadow, Katherine, a half conscious Tikal, and the golden hedgehog known as Princess Maria. Katherine laughed. "What? You can't get rid of us that easily!"

Shadow smirked. "Chaos Control… it works every time."

Katherine grinned at her brother and everyone started cheering again and gathering them into group hugs.

**Me "Haha! Story is… not done. Also, the next one who reviews (Chaos, I'm counting your reviews too) will beat my record on how many reviews I got total out of all my stories, so review now! Anyways, see you tomorrow when the next chapter comes out! Light be with you all and… Katherine…? What's that?"**

**Katherine *quickly covers the failed attempt of drawing a sheep and glares* "Nothing!"**

**Windy *sighs and looks at her book***


	17. Chapter 17

**Almost 100 reviews, YES! This is actually the most reviews I have **_**ever**_** received in my entire existence.**

**Windy "Thank you to everyone who reviewed, and your reward… will be Xsus giving you a hug."**

**Xsus *grins with a bowl of ice cream in hand***

**Flame *face palms***

**Windy "And… if you review again at the end of the chapter, you'll receive a cookie."**

**Me "Anyways, thanks to the ones who reviewed and who'll get a hug as I try to ignore the weird animal making sounds in my wall… okay… I can't ignore them. Zap!"**

**Windy *sighs* "Thank you: BlackStormNomad, UnknownFollower, Strife the Dark 152, Maraya Prower, Chaosthehedgehog, raeweis, and Amicus for reviewing."**

**BlackStormNomad= TNP! Yeah, Nazo's gone, Sonic went super, and I PMed you earlier than planned. Anyways, thanks for reviewing all those times, Nomad. It really helped me out a lot to see what you liked and I hope you enjoy using my characters. I hope I see you around in the next story too!  
Katherine "With you on that one, Robyn."  
Shadow "Artificial trees from the ARK, it's a long story."  
Xerius **_**"Xsus…"**_**  
Xsus *eats another spoonful* "Yes, Xerius?"  
Xerius *face palms***

**UnknownFollower=I'm actually saving that kiss part for a very special moment in another book… :P So, you're liking Strife's stories? That's good. I ran into him on accident and I'm kind of glad I did, he's making my stories a lot better if it wasn't for him. Sorry about your sister crashing the thing… as long as she didn't mean to I suppose… right?  
So, you only have half info on those characters? I can give you a quick summary on who they are if you want (haha, but first you got to find me in my next story!). Mephiles… the best bad guy known to the Light Givers haha. Anyways, thanks for all your reviews and I hope to see you again in my next story!**

**Strife the Dark 152= :P cheater, you already know what the next story's about.  
Flame *laughs then sighs* "Of course you do… and that was directed to **_**both**_** of you."  
Me "Flame… why aren't you going battle crazy right now…?"  
Flame *glares* "If I was battle crazy right now let's just say the house wouldn't be standing anymore."  
Me "….."**

**Maraya Prower= The explanation of Baklava was enough to make my mouth water but now I get chocolate with caramel in the middle?! SCORE! XD Anyways, thanks for letting me know so if you disappear for long periods of time I don't go "WHAT?!" I know how you feel, I've joined so many clubs this year I'm not sure I'll be able to update and write much anymore lol! I wish you luck on your SATs and ACTs… I'm actually terrified of taking tests.  
Zap **_**"I am not difficult!"**_**  
Windy "Yes you are. You're yelling at us over a phone, smart one."  
Zap **_**"….."**_**  
Katherine *blinks* "Hey… your picture looks just like mine…" *lifts up a picture of a stick figure sheep*  
I can't wait to see you in my next story bubblegum pal! :)**

**Chaos= Thanks for the explanation again (and the stories once more!) And I will eagerly wait for your review in my next story when your story comes out haha. Thanks again for all the reviews, friend!**

**Raeweis= Lol, yeah Katherine and Shadow are survivors, Shadow fell to Earth and Katherine almost got killed by hundreds of Followers of Darkness and now they can add almost getting squashed to death on the list along with Tikal and Maria haha. Anyways, thanks for all your reviews, raeweis and I hope to see you in my next story!  
Katherine "I'll start with a triangle…" *grabs a pencil and a paper***

**Amicus= Thanks Amicus for everything, the nice comments, the reviews, everything. I hope to see you again in my next story. (Glad you liked the Xsus + Ice Cream + Undead Knights part, that part made me laugh and I wrote it!)  
Zap "A spoon…? Yessss…" *holds it up with a dark grin*  
Windy *looks up from the book* "Want to borrow it? I'm almost done with it. Besides I guess I own you won because I won the ninja competition for this story!"**

**DISCLAIMER (last one…!)= I don't own anything that belongs to SEGA. **_**Strife the Dark 152 owns Fengari and Strife and when you're done with this story, go read the one they're in: Sonic the hedgehog: the Darkness Incarnate. **_**I just own the Dimension Jumpers and extra characters, the plot, and the world of Darrius.**

**Chapter Seventeen=**

"Sir Sonic?" A little girl asked as she ran up to the blue blur. Sonic looked down at the girl as she stood with two boys and all three strangely looked a bit of a mixture between Jason, Chase, Ria, and Xerius. The girl stepped forward and bowed dramatically, her light hazel eyes flashing. "I found this for you." She lifted a red Chaos Emerald up for Sonic to see and the blue hedgehog laughed, taking the emerald. He must've accidently dropped it when he saved Sierra's life.

"Sonic should be the king!" One of the boys next to her called, lifting his fist. His words resulted in cheering from the other civilians and some people from his team.

Sonic laughed and shook his head. "I can't, I love too, but I have to go home soon."

The entire crowd made booing sounds and Sonic turned to his crew with a happy expression on his face. "Although, I wouldn't have been able to do anything that has happened today without the help of all of you, you all deserve to be kings and queens. Thank you."

The entire crew looked at each other in surprise.

Sierra frowned. "If you must leave Sonic… will you ever come back?"

"I don't know… I don't think so." Sonic admitted with a frown, feeling heartbroken that he had to say this to Sierra, but the girl didn't look crestfallen at all, in fact she smiled.

"Very well," Sierra said with a cocky grin. "Then when you go home you make sure that I start doing what's good in that world."

"I will," Sonic said, laughing as he did so.

"Then… if Sonic won't be king then who's going to rule over us?" A civilian called out and their words resulted in some mumbling.

Sonic looked at his team and his eyes lit up when he found the perfect person to rule to land of Darrius rightfully and fairly. The perfect person who would keep the rules and make sure peace would forevermore stay between the Cowboys and the Knights.

"Fengari?" Sonic called.

The blue wolf looked surprised. "Um… yes?"

Flame and Strife snickered and pushed him towards the blue hedgehog. Sonic laughed at the stunned look on Fengari's face. "Fengari, if anyone has the right to rule Darrius, it should be you."

"What?! Why me?"

"Well, for the few days I've known you, I have never seen anyone like you being fair with rules. Making sure everything went by smoothly and no fights broke out, especially when Flame and Strife played their games. You're on neither side of the territory, not a cowboy, not a knight so your choices with either side will not be considered biased." Sonic explained.

"Played their games?" Strife whispered to Flame, who shrugged.

Fengari dipped his head. "If it's what you want… then I will be honored to rule the Monarchs side of the land with a firm but kind hand… as long as my team can help out too."

Sonic shrugged innocently. "You're the king, Fengari. You're making the rules now."

Fengari nodded.

Strife and Flame gave each other a high five while the rest of Sonic's team smiled and the crowd started cheering, obviously liking Sonic's choice for a king. After a moment they started chanting: "King Fengari, King Fengari!"

"I will rule fairly." Fengari promised Sonic.

The blue hedgehog gave him his trademark grin and thumbs up. "You better! Or else I'm going to have to come back and deal with you myself!"

Sonic's words resulted in laughter.

Katherine marched up to Sonic and she smiled at him. "Good job, Sonic. Thanks to you there's peace in the land."

"What are you going to do?" Sonic asked her.

"I think my brother and I will head south to return Princess Maria back to her home tribe… and we might just stay there ourselves." Katherine laughed.

"I'm going back to Ocean Rider… but I'll visit this place often." Espio promised Fengari.

Knuckles, rubbing his head, looking much better thanks to Ria healing him not to long ago. "I'll come back with you Espio, I bet the town's going to miss me while I'm gone."

Espio rolled his eyes while Jason, Chase, Ria, and Sierra promised to do the same. Sonic smiled and finally let the feeling of peace wash over him.

-XXXXXXXX-

Ten more days. That's how much longer Sonic the hedgehog stayed to make sure things were running smoothly. The blue blur made sure everyone was comfortable and Sierra kept teasing Sonic about when he was going to his home world.

"Soon," Sonic would tell her and the girl would roll her eyes.

Xsus and his small team had managed to hold off the undead knights. Although, all of the knights had magically disappeared when things started looking bleak for the small group, around the same time Nazo had died. Tails and Shade were in prison in the new jail that had been built for the harsh crimes they did on the people. Fengari and Espio made sure that the Knights and Cowboys were welcomed on both sides and peace was all that was in the land now.

…except today.

"Must you leave?" Sierra said as she held onto Sonic's hand. Her blue eyes shined with sadness and the blue blur laughed.

"I have to go! But maybe we'll see each other again someday." Sonic said to her.

Sierra frowned but nodded. "If you say so, Sonic."

Sonic smiled at her and looked around at the entire group that he had met over the days: Maria, Shadow, Katherine, Flame, Strife, Fengari, Xerius, Rouge, and so many others. Sonic smiled at all of them as they stared silently back at him. "Thank you for all that you've done guys. I hope to see you all again soon!"

"Take care, Sir Sonic!" Amy cried.

Sonic smiled at her. "I will."

Amy's face turned red and Sonic closed his eyes and concentrated as the seven Chaos Emeralds appeared around him and circled him. The blue- now golden- blur opened his eyes and smiled at Sierra one more time. "I promise to make you better in my world." Sonic said to her.

Sierra smiled weakly. "Thank you."

She gave Sonic another hug and then stepped away as Sonic lifted a hand to the sky. "CHAOS CONTROL!"

In the sky above a small hole of colorful energy appeared and Sonic floated up towards it, followed by the spinning Chaos Emeralds and waving farewell to everyone before him. He then shot up in a golden light through the hole and was gone… maybe forever. The small hole disappeared the moment he went through it.

Sierra felt tears in her eyes but stopped when she heard a voice. _"Don't cry Sierra. We'll be together again someday."_ She knew that voice… it was Sonic's! He was somehow speaking to her… probably for the last time too.

Sierra clasped her hands together and looked up at the sky sadly but forced a smile. "Goodbye… Sonic the hedgehog."

-XXXXXXXX-

_SONIC'S HOMEWORLD…_

"You have _got_ to be kidding me!" Katherine yelled as she ran through the cracked remains of Station Square. She dived behind a building and slid to a stop next to Silver the hedgehog and both looked at each other.

Silver opened his mouth to say something and Katherine gave him a look… shutting the hedgehog up again.

Windy appeared out of thin air and dropped down next to the duo. Without saying anything, she pointed upwards and Katherine and Silver nodded before the three launched themselves onto the remaining rooftops.

"Do you see anything?" Katherine whispered as soon as the three were on the rooftops.

"Nothing," Silver said with a frown, looking around.

Windy's ears suddenly twitched. "Backstab! Backstab!"

Katherine and Windy spun around while Silver stared at Windy wondering what the heck she said meant until he also turned. All three saw on top of a nearby rooftops with their arms crossed stood a smirking Sierra in black clothes that flowed in the dark wind along with her cape.

"Ah! My enemies have finally arrived! Are you prepared for your end?" Sierra said, her icy blue eyes flashing.

"Bring it on, Sierra!" Katherine lifted a fist angrily.

The two were about to jump at each other when they heard a rumbling sound in the air. All four looked up at the dark sky above with frowns on their faces until they saw the X-Tornado fly by and everyone hopped out of the plane as soon as it touched down on the ground. The group contained Team Chaotix, Team Dark, the rest of the Dimension Jumpers, Team Rose, Tails, Blaze, and Knuckles. Katherine grinned at her brother. "Glad to see you've dropped by, Shadow."

Shadow the hedgehog showed a dark smirk to her.

"Did you find Sonic?" Silver asked nervously.

Shadow glared at Silver after noticing how close he stood next to Katherine. "I can't find the Faker anywhere."

Amy sniffed, wiping away a stray tear. "It's like he's disappeared off the face of the Earth! I hope he's okay!"

"Ha! Sonic's dead! I killed him myself!" Sierra called over boldly, causing everyone to look at her.

Knuckles lifted a fist angrily. "That's a lie!"

"You think it is? Then explain to me some other logical explanation why he's not here." Sierra smirked proudly.

No one knew what to say as Sierra lifted a hand towards them. "You might as well admit your defeat. Without Sonic the hedgehog you're all just a bunch of pushovers without leader to hold you all together!"

"Pushovers?!" Shadow growled angrily, the others didn't look any happier about the comment.

"Take this!" Sierra spun on her heels and emitted a blast of black energy from the palm of her hand. The blast shot towards the group and Katherine, Windy, and Shadow hopped forward to intercept the blast with their own moves but stopped short when a glowing figure appeared and knocked the blast out of the way.

Everyone's eyes widened when they recognized the figure. "Sonic!" They all cried simultaneously, some with joy, some with respect, and one with fear.

Super Sonic turned towards Sierra as she took a nervous step backwards, hand going for her sword, her ice cold blue eyes flashed with nervousness as the hedgehog disappeared and reappeared in front of her.

"Get away from me or I'll kill you!" Sierra warned, pulling out her sword and pointing it at Sonic angrily.

Sonic touched the tip of the sword and lowered it then looked her in the eye. "I know you can't hurt me, Sierra." He said with a strong voice.

Sierra said nothing, her eyes wide with fear, anger, and revenge.

Sonic took a step towards her and Sierra took a step back. "Not another step!" She growled, yet Sonic the hedgehog boldly took another step towards the Follower of Darkness. He grabbed Sierra's free hand and smiled at her kindly, making Sierra's eyes widen then narrow.

"What games are you playing with me?" Sierra hissed but she didn't pull her hand out of Sonic's.

"The game of friendship." Sonic smirked.

"Game of friendship?" Sierra echoed, her eyes growing even colder. "That's for the weak."

"Is that so?" Sonic chuckled.

Sierra's eyes narrowed. Was he _mocking_ her? She pulled her hand out of his and turned around before glaring at him. "I'll be back one day, Sonic the hedgehog and next time, next time you won't be so lucky!" She ran towards the edge of the building, glanced back one more time, jumped off the building, transformed herself into a pterodactyl, and then flew away.

Sonic watched her go and smiled quietly at himself. For when she looked back, for just a small moment, he saw the Sierra from the other world in her ice blue eyes. There was hope to bringing Sierra to the good side after all… just not anytime soon.

"SONIC!" A voice called out and Sonic glanced back as he stopped glowing golden and transformed back to his blue color.

"Amy!" Sonic yelped as the girl tackled him with a hug.

She nuzzled her head into his fur, giggling. "Sonic! You're okay! We were all so worried about you! You've been missing for weeks! Where have you been?"

"Oh… you know… around…" Sonic said slowly, rubbing his nose and trying not to smile. The others finally caught up to them and when Amy let go of Sonic, it was Tails' turn to run up and hugged his "big brother". Soon, everyone did their own ways of greeting Sonic and welcoming him back.

While the happy moment went on, Zap explained some things about what happened. Sierra appeared and started destroying the world, no one could find Sonic, everyone went on a frantic search in both dimensions to find him but couldn't find the blue blur, and they had finally decided that they had to go into battle or else Sierra would destroy the world.

As soon as the happy moment of reunion was over, Shadow crossed his arms and scowled at Sonic as the sun broke through the clouds, revealing a scarred battle field that probably had been Sierra's doing over the past few weeks he had been gone. "So, where have you been, Faker?"

Sonic laughed. "You wouldn't believe a word I said if I did."

Katherine raised an eyebrow, a smirk on her face as she stood close to her brother. "Try us."

Sonic gave her a cocky grin and took a deep breath. After that, he told them his adventure in the magical world of Darrius. When he was finished, Katherine shook her head. "That's one crazy story, Sonic."

"What? You guys don't believe me?" Sonic asked with a frown.

Xsus' eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. "I helped stopped an undead army…? That's so cool!"

Katherine shrugged. "I didn't say that I didn't believe it, but it is one crazy story."

"She's right," Windy said with a laugh.

"Besides Faker, I must have been half dead to be working with you." Shadow snorted.

Amy smiled. "Okay guys, enough fighting. How about we go to my place? I got some hot apple cider waiting to be cooked up and I think all of us deserve a little break now."

The others (except Shadow and Espio) cheered and all started walking towards the X-Tornado. As they left Sonic behind, the blue blur grinned and pulled out a cowboy hat from his quills and placed it on his head with a confident grin before walking after them.

_THE END_

**Another ending...**

**Anyways, there you go. Shadows Gathering is now officially over, thanks for staying this long and I hoped you enjoyed the story! The next story: The Return, should be coming out later today (yeah… already ahead of you readers) so go to that one next if you liked this story! Although you gotta answer two questions first: 1. Favorite character (again, I know, but I want to see if it changed and we got some new readers and characters since Day of the Dead). and 2. Your favorite part of the story. Thanks again people for reading!**

**Sonic "No one believed me…"**

**Katherine *throws away another piece of paper with failed drawings on it* "Stick figure sheep and triangles… humph…"**

**Xerius *walks in* **_**"So, BlackSandHeart, what are we going to do about that unknown animal in your wall while Zap's out an about?"**_

**Me "Of all days to check out the 'new' 3D technology… gah… I don't know."**

**Flame *eyes light up with a smirk on her face* "We could blow it up."**

**Windy *flips another page in her book* "I think the last thing we need is to have to clean up the mess of a destroyed wall, Flame."**

**Flame *glares* "It was just a suggestion…"**

**Sierra *runs in with a mallet* "**_**I'll**_** break it down then!"**

**Everyone (but Sierra and Flame) "WHAT?! NO!"**

**Me *face palm* "Okay, I have to stop that now. Anyways, thanks so much for reading Shadows Gathering, and I'll see you all again in The Return, hopefully! And don't forget to review! Light be with you all 'till we meet again."**


End file.
